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THE 

FIRST CHURCH OF CHRIST 

SCIENTIST 

AND MISCELLANY 



THE 
FIEST CHURCH OF CHEIST 

SCIENTIST 
AND MISCELLANY 



BY 

MARY BAKER EDDY 

DISCOVERER AND FOUNDER OF CHRISTIAN SCIENCE 

AND AUTHOR OF SCIENCE AND HEALTH WITH 

KEY TO THE SCRIPTURES 



BOSTON, U.S.A. 
Published by Allison V. Stewart 

for the trustees under the will of mary baker g. eddy 
Falmouth and St. Paul Streets 

1917 



Authorized Literature of 
The First Church of Christ, Scientist 
in Boston, Massachusetts v 



-^^ <^\<K\ 



•Mlnhenp 



Copyright, IQ13 

By the Trustees under the Will of 

Mary Baker G. Eddy 



All rights reserved, including that of translation into foreign 
languages, including the Scandinavian 



FOEEWORD 

Lord God of Hosts, be with us yet; 
Lest we forget — lest we forget! 

— Kipling's Recessional 

IN these stirring times of church building, when the 
attention of the whole world is fixed on Christian Sci- 
ence, when the growth and prosperity of the Cause are 
matters of general wonderment and frequent comment, 
when the right hand of fellowship is being extended to 
this people by other Christian denominations, when pop- 
ularity threatens to supersede persecution, it is well 
for earnest and loyal Christian Scientists to fortify them- 
selves against the mesmerism of personal pride and self- 
adulation by recalling the following historical facts: — 

1. That Mary Baker Eddy discovered Christian Sci- 
ence in 1866, and established the Cause on a sound basis 
by heahng the sick and reforming the sinner quickly 
and completely, and doing this work " without money and 
without price." 

2. That in 1875, after nine years of arduous prelimi- 
nary labor, she wrote and published the Christian Sci- 
ence textbook, "Science and Health with Key to the 
Scriptures;" that over four hundred thousand copies of 
this book have been sold — an unparalleled record for 
a work of this description; that it has healed multi- 
tudes of disease and has revealed God to well-nigh 



vi FOREWORD 

countless numbers — facts which prove, (1) that Science 
and Health does not need to be interpreted to those who 
are earnestly seeking Truth; (2) that it is not possible 
to state truth absolutely in a simpler or more pleasing 
form. 

3. That no one on earth to-day, aside from Mrs. 
Eddy, knows anything about Christian Science except 
as he has learned it from her and from her writings; and 
Christian Scientists are honest only as they give her full 
credit for this extraordinary work. 

4. That Mrs. Eddy organized The First Church of 
Christ, Scientist, in Boston, Mass., devised its church 
government, originated its form of public worship, wrote 
its Church Manual and Tenets, and always has been 
and is now its guide, guardian. Leader, and wise and 
unerring counsellor. 

5. That Mrs. Eddy founded The Christian Science 
Journal in 1883, was its first editor and for years the 
principal contributor to its columns; that she organized 
The Christian Science Pubhshing Society, which in 1898, 
with its assets valued at forty-five thousand dollars, 
she made over to trustees under agreement to pay all 
future profits to her church; that at the same time she 
presented to her church the property at 95 and 97 
Falmouth Street, then occupied by the Publishing So- 
ciety and valued at twenty-five thousand dollars, reserv- 
ing for herself only a place for the publishing of her 
works; that she established the Christian Science Sentinel 
and authorized Der Herold der Christian Science, both of 



FOREWORD vii 

which, together with The Christian Science Journal, are 
the property of the PubUshing Society. 

Strive it ever so hard, The Church of Christ, Scientist, 
can never do for its Leader what its Leader has done 
for this church; but its members can so protect their 
own thoughts that they are not unwittingly made to de- 
prive their Leader of her rightful place as the revelator 
to this age of the immortal truths testified to by Jesus 
and the prophets. 

Deeds, not words, are the sound test of love; and 
the helpfulness of consistent and constant right think- 
ing — intelligent thinking untainted by the emotionalism 
which is largely self-glorification — is a reasonable service 
which all Christian Scientists can render their Leader. 

— Christian Science Sentinel, April 28, 1906. 



CONTENTS 

PART I 
THE FIRST CHURCH OF CHRIST, SCIENTIST 

PAGE 

Foreword v 

CHAPTER I 
"Choose Ye" — Dedicatory Message, June 10, 1906. . . 3 

CHAPTER II 

The Extension of The Mother Church of Christ, Scien- 
tist: Its Inception, Construction, and Dedication 

Mrs. Eddy's Message to The Mother Church, June 15, 

1902 7 

The Annual Meeting of The Mother Church, June 18, 

1902 — Two Million Dollars Pledged 7 

Greeting from the Church to Mrs. Eddy 8 

Our Leader's Thanks 9 

Christian Science Sentinel, May 16, 1903 10 

Editorial in Christian Science Sentinel, May 16, 1903 . . 11 

Now AND Then 12 

Editorial in Christian Science Sentinel, January 2, 1904 . 14 

Amendment to By-law 15 

Communion, 1904 15 

Extract from the Treasurer's Report, June 14, 1904 . 16 

The Corner-stone Laid 16 

Unselfish Loyalty 19 

Holiday Gifts 20 



CONTEXTS 



PAGE 



The Axxtal IMeetixg, June 13, 1905: 

Extract from the Clerk's Report 22 

Extract from the Treasurer's Report 23 

Greeting to AIrs. Eddy from the Axxual ^Meeting 23 

Editorial in Christian Science Sentinel, Xo^^ember 25, 1905 . 24 

Gifts from the Children 25 

Card 25 

Announcement of the Dedication 26 

To the Board of Directors 26 

Notice 27 

Notice to Contributors to the Building Funt) .... 27 

Editorl\l in Christian Science Sentinel, Junt: 9, 1906 . . 27 

co]mmunion ser^^ce and dedication 29 

The An^-ual Meeting, Junt: 12, 1906 38 

Telegram to Mrs. Eddy 44 

Report of the Clerk 47 

Letters and Editorial 58 

Editorial in Christian Science Sentinel, June, 1906 . 63 



APPEXDIX TO PART I 

AS CHROXICLED BY THE XEWSPAPERS 

An Astonishing Motion 65 

Progressive Steps 65 

The Finishing Touches 66 

Description of the Extension 67 

An Idea of the Size 69 

The Chlmes 70 

Magnificence of the Organ 70 

Its Architecture 71 

Unique Interior 71 

Gates of Boston Open 72 

Christian Scientists Have All the IMoney Needed . . 72 

The Great Gathering 73 

SPECLA.L Trains Coming 73 

Interesting and Agreeable Visitors 74 

Readily Accommodated ,,,,,, 75 



CONTENTS xi 

PAGE 

Big Church is Paid For 75 

Giant Temple for Scientists 76 

Dedication Day 77 

Children's Service 78 

On a Far Higher Pedestal 79 

The Wednesday Evening Meetings 79 

Exodus Begins 82 

What the Boston Editors Said: 

Boston Daily Advertiser 83 

Boston Herald 84 

Boston Evening Record 84 

Boston Post 84 

Boston Herald 85 

Boston Globe 86 

Boston Post 86 

Boston Herald 87 

General Editorial Opinion: 

Montreal (Can.) Gazette 88 

Concord (N. H.) Monitor 88 

Brooklyn (N. Y.) Eagle 88 

Denver (Col.) News 89 

Terre Haute (Ind.) Star 90 

Lafayette (Ind.) Journal 91 

Springfield (Mass.) Republican 92 

Rochester (N. Y.) Post Express 92 

Topeka (Kan.) Daily Capital 93 

Albany (N. Y.) Knickerbocker 94 

Mexican Herald, City of Mexico, Mex 95 

Sandusky (Ohio) Star-Journal 95 

Peoria (111.) Journal 96 

Nebraska State Journal, Lincoln, Neb 97 

Athol (Mass.) Transcript 97 

Portland (Ore.) Telegram 98 

Portland (Me.) Advertiser 98 

Denver (Col.) Republican 99 

Bridgeport (Conn.) Standard 99 



xii CONTENTS 



PART II 
MISCELLANY 

CHAPTER I PAGE 

To THE Christian World 103 

CHAPTER II 

The Christian Science Textbook 109 

CHAPTER III 

Personality 

Personal Contagion 116 

Letter to a Clergyivian 118 

CHAPTER IV 

Messages to The Mother Church 

Communion, January 2, 1898 121 

Communion, June 4, 1899 124 

Address at Annual Meeting, June 6, 1899 131 

A Question Answered 133 

Letter of the Pastor Emeritus, June, 1903 133 

A Letter from Mrs. Eddy 134 

Letter to The Mother Church 135 

Card 136 

Mrs. Eddy's Affidavit 137 

NoTA Bent: 139 

A Word to the Wise . 139 

Abolishing the Communion 140 

Communion Season is Abolished 141 

Mrs. Eddy's Reply 142 

The Christian Science Board of Directors 142 

Mrs. Eddy's Statements 143 



CONTENTS xiii 

CHAPTER V 

Christian Science Hall, Concord, N. H. 

PAGE 

In Retrospect 145 

Secoistd Sunday Service, December 12, 1897 147 

Address to the Concord Church, February, 1899 . . . 148 

Message, April 19, 1899: 

Subject: "Not Matter, but Spirit" 151 

First Annual Meeting, January 11, 1900 154 

Easter Message, 1902 155 

Last Annual Meeting, January 6, 1904 156 

CHAPTER VI 

First Church of Christ, Scientist, Concord, N. H. 

Mrs. Eddy's Gift to the Concord Church 157 

Corner-stone Laid at Concord 158 

Message on the Occasion of the Dedication of Mrs. 

Eddy's Gift, July 17, 1904 159 

Announcement 163 

A Kindly Greeting . . 163 

Acknowledgment of Gifts: 

To THE Chicago Churches 164 

To First Church of Christ, Scientist, New York 165 

To The Mother Church 166 

To First Church of Christ, Scientist, New London, 

Conn 166 

Thanksgiving Day, 1904 167 

Religious Freedom 167 

CHAPTER VII 

Pleasant View and Concord, N. H. 

Invitation to Concord, July 4, 1897 169 

Visit to Concord, 1901 169 

Address at Pleasant View, June, 1903 170 



XIV CONTENTS 

PAGE 

Visit to Concord, 1904 171 

The Day in Concord 171 

Card of Thanks 173 

To First Congregational Church 174 

Greetings 175 

To First Church of Christ, Scientist, Wilmington, N. C. 176 

CHAPTER VIII 

Dedicatory Messages to Branch Churches 



First Church of Christ, Scientist, Chicago, III. . . , 
First Church of Christ, Scientist, London, England 
First Church of Christ, Scientist, Brooklyn, N. Y. , 
First Church of Christ, Scientist, Detroit, Mich. . , 
First Church of Christ, Scientist, Toronto, Canada , 

White Mountain Church 

First Church of Christ, Scientist, Duluth, Minn. . . 



First Church of Christ, Scientist, Salt Lake City, Utah 186 

First Church of Christ, Scientist, Atlanta, Ga 187 

Second Church of Christ, Scientist, Chicago, III. . . . 191 

First Church of Christ, Scientist, Los Angeles, Cal. . 192 

Second Church of Christ, Scientist, Minneapolis, Minn. 193 

First Church of Christ, Scientist, New York, N. Y. . . 193 

First Church of Christ, Scientist, Cleveland, Ohio . . 195 

First Church of Christ, Scientist, Pittsburgh, Pa. . . 196 

First Church of Christ, Scientist, St. Louis, Mo. . . . 196 

First Church of Christ, Scientist, San Jose, Cal. . . . 197 

First Church of Christ, Scientist, Wilmington, N. C. . 197 

First Church of Christ, Scientist, London, England . 198 



CHAPTER IX 

Letters to Branch Churches 

First Church of Christ, Scientist, Philadelphia, Pa. . 199 

First Church of Christ, Scientist, Washington, D. C. . 199 

First Church of Christ, Scientist, London, England . 200 

First Church of Christ, Scientist, New York, N. Y. . 201 



177 

183 

183 
183 
184 
184 
186 



CONTENTS XV 

PAGE 

Second Church of Christ, Scientist, New York, N. Y. , 201 

First Church of Christ, Scientist, Oakland, Cal. . . . 202 

First Church of Christ, Scientist, Washington, D. C. . 203 

First Church of Christ, Scientist, London, England . 203 

First Church of Christ, Scientist, Columbus, Ohio . . 204 

Third Church of Christ, Scientist, London, England . 205 

First Church of Christ, Scientist, Milwaukee, Wis. . 207 

A Telegram and Mrs. Eddy's Reply 207 

First Church of Christ, Scientist, Sydney, Australia . 208 

First Church of Christ, Scientist, Edinburgh, Scotland 208 

The Committees in Conference, Chicago, III 208 

Comment on Letter from First Church of Christ, Scien- 
tist, Ottawa, Ontario 209 

CHAPTER X 
Admonition and Counsel 

What Our Leader Says 210 

Ways that are Vain 210 

Only One Quotation 213 

The Laborer and his Hire 214 

The Children Contributors 216 

A Correction 217 

Question Answered 218 

Christian Science Healing 219 

Rules of Conduct 223 

A Word to the Wise 223 

Capitalization 225 

Wherefore? 226 

Significant Questions 228 

Mental Digestion 229 

Teaching in the Sunday School 230 

Charity and Invalids 231 

Lessons in the Sunday School 231 

Watching versus Watching Out 232 

Principle or Person? 233 

Christian Science and China 234 

Inconsistency 235 



Xvi CONTENTS 

PAGE 

Signs of the Times 235 

NoTA Bene 236 

Take Notice 236 

Take Notice 237 

Take Notice 237 

Pkactitioners' Charges 237 

Take Notice -. . . . 237 

CHAPTER XI 
Questions Answered 

Questions and Answers 238 

The Higher Criticism 240 

Class Teaching 240 

Instruction by Mrs. Eddy 241 

Mrs. Eddy's Reply 242 

Take Notice 242 

CHAPTER XII 
Readers, Teachers, Lecturers 

The New York Churches 243 

The November Class, 1898 243 

Massachusetts Metaphysical College 244 

The Board of Education 246 

To A First Reader 247 

The Christian Science Board of Lectureship 248 

Readers in Church . 249 

Words for the Wise 250 

Afterglow 250 

Teachers of Christian Science 251 

The General Association of Teachers, 1903 251 

The London Teachers' Association, 1903 252 

The General Association of Teachers, 1904 253 

The Canadian Teachers, 1904 253 

Students in the Board of Education, December, 1904. 253 

The May Class, 1905 254 

The December Class, 1905 254 

"Rotation in Office" 254 

Mrs. Eddy's Reply 255 



CONTENTS xvii 

CHAPTER XIII 

Christmas 

PAGE 

Early Chimes, December, 1898 256 

Christmas, 1900 256 

Christmas Gifts 257 

The Significance of Christmas 259 

Christmas for the Children 261 

What Christmas Means to Me . 261 

Mrs. Eddy's Christmas Message . 263 

CHAPTER XIV 

Contributions to Newspapers and Magazines 

A Word in Defence 264 

Christian Science Thanks 264 

Mrs. Eddy's Response 264 

Insufficient Freedom 266 

Christian Science and the Times 266 

Heaven 267 

Prevention and Cure of Divorce 268 

Harvest 269 

Mrs. Eddy Describes her Human Ideal 271 

Mrs. Eddy's Answer 271 

Youth and Young Manhood 272 

Mrs. Eddy Sends Thanks 274 

Universal Fellowship 275 

Mrs. Eddy's Own Denial that She is III 275 

To Whom It May Concern 276 

Politics 276 

CHAPTER XV 
Peace and War 

Other Ways than by War 277 

How Strife may be Stilled 278 

The Prayer for Peace 279 



XViii CONTENTS 

PAGE 

"Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God is one Lord" . . 280 

An Explanation 280 

Practise the Golden Rule 281 

Mrs. Eddy's Reply 281 

Mrs. Eddy and the Peace Movement 282 

Acknowledgment of Appointment as Fondateur .... 283 

A Correction 284 

To A Student 285 

War 286 

CHAPTER XVI 

Tributes 

Monument to Baron and Baroness de Hirsch .... 287 

Tributes to Queen Victoria 289 

Letter to Mrs. McKinley 290 

Tribute to President McKinley 291 

Power of Prayer 292 

On the Death of Pope Leo XIIL, July 20, 1903 ... 294 

A Tribute to the Bible 295 

A Benediction 295 

Hon. Clarence A. Buskirk's Lecture 296 

"Hear, O Israel" 296 

Miss Clara Barton 296 

There is No Death 297 

Mrs. Eddy's History 297 

CHAPTER XVII 

Answers to Criticisms 

Christian Science and the Church 299 

Faith in Metaphysics 301 

Reply to Mark Twain 302 

A Misstatement Corrected 304 

A Plea for Justice 305 

Reminiscences 306 

Reply to McClure's Magazine 308 

A Card 316 



CONTENTS xix 

CHAPTER XVIII 

Authorship of Science and Health 

PAGE 

Mrs. Eddy's Statement 317 

Letters from Students 319 

CHAPTER XIX 

A Memorable Coincidence and Historical Facts 

Mrs. Eddy's Letter 326 

Miss Elizabeth Earl Jones' Letter 327 

Miss Mary Hatch Harrison's Letter 329 

A Card 331 

Major Glover's Record as a Mason 334 

CHAPTER XX 

General Miscellany 

The United States to Great Britain (Poem) 337 

To THE Public 338 

Fast Day in New Hampshire, 1899 339 

Spring Greeting (Poem) 341 

Mrs. Eddy Talks 341 

Mrs. Eddy's Successor 346 

Gift of a Loving-cup 347 

Fundamental Christian Sciei^ce 347 

Whither? (Poem) 350 

A Letter from our Leader 351 

Take Notice 351 

Recognition of Blessings 352 

Mrs. Eddy's Reply 352 

Mrs. Eddy's Thanks 352 

Something in a Name 353 

Article XXIL, Section 17 353 

To Whom It May Concern 354 

Extempore (Poem) 354 



XX CONTENTS 

PAGE 

Men in our Ranks 355 

A P^AN OF Praise 355 

A Statement by Mrs. Eddy 356 

The Way of Wisdom 356 

A Letter by Mrs. Eddy 357 

Take Notice 358 

A Letter from Mrs. Eddy 359 

A Letter by Mrs. Eddy 360 

A Letter by Mrs. Eddy 360 

A Telegram and Mrs. Eddy's Reply 361 

A Letter and Mrs. Eddy's Reply 362 

To THE Members of the Christian Scientist Association 363 



PAET I 

THE FIRST CHURCH OF CHRIST 
SCIENTIST 



THE FIRST CHURCH OF CHRIST 
SCIENTIST 

CHAPTER I 
"CHOOSE YE" 

Message from Mary Baker Eddy on the Occasion 
OF THE Dedication of the Extension of The 
Mother Church of Christ, Scientist, June 10, 1906 

MY Beloved Brethren: — The divine might of 
Truth demands well-doing in order to demon- 
strate truth, and this not alone in accord with human 
desire but with spiritual power. St. John writes : " Blessed 
are they that do His commandments, that they may have 
right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates 
into the city." The sear leaves of faith without works, 
scattered abroad in Zion's waste places, appeal to re- 
formers, "Show me thy faith by thy works." 

Christian Science is not a dweller, apart in royal solitude; 
it is not a law of matter, nor a transcendentalism that 
heals only the sick. This Science is a law of divine Mind, 
a persuasive animus, an unerring impetus, an ever-present 
help. Its presence is felt, for it acts and acts wisely, 
always unfolding the highway of hope, faith, understand- 
ing. It is the higher criticism, the higher hope; and its 
effect on man is mainly this — that the good which has 
come into his life, examination compels him to think 
genuine, whoever did it. A Christian Scientist verifies 
his calling. Choose ye! 

3 



4 THE FIRST CHURCH OF CHRIST, SCIENTIST 

When, by losing his faith in matter and sin, one finds 
the spirit of Truth, then he practises the Golden Rule 
spontaneously; and obedience to this rule spiritualizes 
man, for the world's nolens volens cannot enthrall it. 
Lust, dishonesty, sin, disable the student; they preclude 
the practice or efficient teaching of Christian Science, the 
truth of man's being. The Scripture reads: "He that 
taketh not his cross, and f olloweth after me, is not worthy 
of me." On this basis, how many are following the 
Way-shower? We follow Truth only as we follow truly, 
meekly, patiently, spiritually, blessing saint and sinner 
with the leaven of divine Love which woman has put 
into Christendom and medicine. 

A genuine Christian Scientist loves Protestant and 
Catholic, D.D. and M.D., — loves all who love God, 
good; and he loves his enemies. It will be found that, 
instead of opposing, such an individual subserves the 
interests of both medical faculty and Christianity, and 
they thrive together, learning that Mind-power is good 
will towards men. Thus unfolding the true metal in 
character, the iron in human nature rusts away; honesty 
and justice characterize the seeker and finder of Christian 
Science. 

The pride of place or power is the prince of this world 
that hath nothing in Christ. Our great Master said: 
"Except ye . . . become as little children, ye shall not 
enter into the kingdom of heaven," — the reign of right- 
eousness, the glory of good, healing the sick and saving 
the sinner. The height of my hope must remain. Glory 
be to Thee, Thou God most high and nigh. 

Whatever is not divinely natural and demonstrably 
true, in ethics, philosophy, or religion, is not of God but 



"CHOOSE YE" 5 

originates in the minds of mortals. It is the Adam- 
dream according to the Scriptural allegory, in which 
man is supposed to start from dust and woman to be 
the outcome of man's rib, — marriage synonymous with 
legalized lust, and the offspring of sense the murderers 
of their brothers! 

Wholly apart from this mortal dream, this illusion and 
delusion of sense. Christian Science comes to reveal man 
as God's image. His idea, coexistent with Him — God 
giving all and man having all that God gives. Whence, 
then, came the creation of matter, sin, and death, mortal 
pride and power, prestige or privilege? The First Com- 
mandment of the Hebrew Decalogue, "Thou shalt have 
no other gods before me," and the Golden Rule are the 
all-in-all of Christian Science. They are the spiritual 
idealism and realism which, when realized, constitute a 
Christian Scientist, heal the sick, reform the sinner, and 
rob the grave of its victory. The spiritual understanding 
which demonstrates Christian Science, enables the devout 
Scientist to worship, not an unknown God, but Him whom, 
understanding even in part, he continues to love more and 
to serve better. 

Beloved, I am not with you in propria persona at this 
memorable dedication and communion season, but I am 
with you "in spirit and in truth," lovingly thanking your 
generosity and fidelity, and saying virtually what the 
prophet said: Continue to choose whom ye will serve. 

Forgetting the Golden Rule and indulging sin, men 
cannot serve God; they cannot demonstrate the omnipo- 
tence of divine Mind that heals the sick and the sinner. 
Human will may mesmerize and mislead man; divine 
wisdom, never. Indulging deceit is like the defendant 



6 THE FIRST CHURCH OF CHRIST, SCIENTIST 

arguing for the plaintiff in favor of a decision which the 
defendant knows will be turned against himself. 

We cannot serve two masters. Do we love God 
supremely? Are we honest, just, faithful? Are we true 
to ourselves? "God is not mocked: for whatsoever a 
man soweth, that shall he also reap.'' To abide in our 
unselfed better self is to be done forever with the sins 
of the flesh, the wrongs of human Hfe, the tempter and 
temptation, the smile and deceit of damnation. When 
we have overcome sin in all its forms, men may revile us 
and despitefully use us, and we shall rejoice, "for great 
is [our] reward in heaven." 

You have dexterously and wisely provided for The 
Mother Church of Christ, Scientist, a magnificent tem- 
ple wherein to enter and pray. Greatly impressed and 
encouraged thereby, deeply do I thank you for this proof 
of your progress, unity, and love. The modest edifice 
of The Mother Church of Christ, Scientist, began Tsith 
the cross; its excelsior extension is the crown. The room 
of your Leader remains in the beginning of this edifice, 
e\'idencing the praise of babes and the word which pro- 
ceedeth out of the mouth of God. Its crowning ulti- 
mate rises to a mental monument, a superstructure high 
above the work of men's hands, even the outcome of 
their hearts, gi^ing to the material a spiritual significance 
— the speed, beauty, and achievements of goodness. 
Methinks this church is the one edifice on earth which 
most prefigures self-abnegation, hope, faith; love catching 
a glimpse of glory. 



CHAPTER II 

THE EXTENSION OF THE MOTHER CHURCH OF 
CHRIST, SCIENTIST: ITS INCEPTION, CON- 
STRUCTION, AND DEDICATION 

Mrs. Eddy's Message to The Mother Church, 
June 15, 1902 

[Extract] 

HERE allow me to interpolate some matters of busi- 
ness that ordinarily find no place in my Message. 
It is a privilege to acquaint communicants with the 
financial transactions of this church, so far as I know 
them, and especially before making another united effort 
to purchase more land and enlarge our church edifice so 
as to seat the large number who annually favor us with 
their presence on Communion Sunday. 

THE ANNUAL MEETING OF THE MOTHER CHURCH, JUNE 
18, 1902 — TWO MILLION DOLLARS PLEDGED 

Edward A. Kimball, C.S.D., offered the following 
motion : — 

" Recognizing the necessity for providing an auditorium 
for The Mother Church that will seat four or. five thou- 
sand persons, and acting in behalf of ourselves and the 
Christian Scientists of the world, we agree to contribute 

7 



8 THE FIRST CHURCH OF CHRIST, SCIENTIST 

any portion of two million dollars that may be necessary 
for this pm'pose.'' 

In support of the motion, Mr. Kimball said in part: 
" Our denomination is palpably outgrowing the institu- 
tional end thereof. We need to keep pace T\dth our own 
growth and progress. The necessity here indicated is be- 
yond cavil; beyond resistance in your thought.'' 

Judge WilHam G. Ewing, in seconding the motion, said : — 

"As we have the best church in the world, and as we 
have the best expression of the religion of Jesus Christ, 
let us have the best material symbol of both of these, and 
in the best city in the world. 

" Now I am sure that I have but expressed the universal 
voice of Christian Scientists, that there should be some- 
thing done, and done immediately, to make reasonable 
accommodation for the regular business of the Christian 
Science church, and I believe really, T;vdth my faint 
knowledge of arithmetic and the relationship of figures, 
that a church of twenty-four thousand members should 
have a seating capacity of more than nine hundred, if 
they are all to get in.'' 

The motion was carried unanimously. 

Greeting from the Church to Mrs. Eddy 

"Ten thousand Christian Scientists from throughout 
the world, convened in annual business meeting in 
Boston, send our greeting to you, whom we recognize 
as logically the natural and indispensable Leader of our 
religious denomination and its acti\ity. 

"Since the last report, in 1900, one hundred and five 
new churches or congregations have been added, and 



OUR LEADER'S THANKS 9 

those previously established have had large accessions 
to their membership. In recognition of the necessity for 
providing an audience-room in The Mother Church which 
will seat four or B.Ye thousand persons, we have agreed to 
contribute any portion of two million dollars that may 
be needed for that purpose. 

"The instinctive gratitude which not only impels the 
Christian to turn in loving thankfulness to his heavenly 
Father, but induces him to glory in every good deed and 
thought on the part of every man — this would be scant 
indeed if it did not continually move us to utter our grati- 
tude to you and declare the depth of our affection and 
esteem. 

"To you, who are standing in the forefront of the effort 
for righteous reform, we modestly renew the hope and 
desire that we may worthily follow with you in the way 
of salvation through Christ." 

OuE Leader's Thanks 

To the Members of The Mother Church: — I am bankrupt 
in thanks to you, my beloved brethren, who at our last 
annual meeting pledged yourselves with startling grace 
to contribute any part of two millions of dollars towards 
the purchase of more land for its site, and to enlarge 
our church edifice in Boston. I never before felt poor 
in thanks, but I do now, and will draw on God for 
the amount I owe you, till I am satisfied with what my 
heart gives to balance accounts. 

Mary Baker Eddy. 

Pleasant View, Concord, N. H., 
July 21, 1902. 



10 THE FIRST CHURCH OF CHRIST, SCIENTIST 

[Christian Science Sentinel, May 16, 1903] 

It is inevitable that the transforming influence of 
Christian Science should improve the thought, enlarge the 
favorable expectation, and augment the achievements of 
its followers. It was inevitable that this mighty impulse 
for good should have externalized itself, ten years ago, 
in an edifice for The Mother Church. It is inevitable 
that this same impulsion should now manifest itself in a 
beautiful, ample building, embodying the best of design, 
material, and situation. 

Some money has been paid in towards the fund, and 
some of the churches and other organizations have taken 
steps in this direction, but the time is at hand, now, for 
this entire donation to be specifically subscribed as to 
amount and date of payment. No appeal has ever been 
made in this behalf, and it is probable that none will be 
made or ever be needed. It is doubtful if the Cause of 
Christian Science could prosper, in any particular, on the 
basis of fretful or reluctant sacrifice on the part of its 
people. Christian Scientists are not expected to contrib- 
ute money against their will or as the result of impor- 
tunity or entreaty on the part of some one else. 

They will provide the money necessary to this end, 
because they recognize the importance of The Mother 
Church to the Cause. They realize that there must be 
a prosperous parent church, in order to insure the pros- 
perity of the branch churches; indeed, they know that 
it is the prosperous growth of this movement which 
now necessitates this onward step. They know that 
their own individual welfare is closely interwoven with 
the general welfare of the Cause. 



EDITORIAL 11 

Notwithstanding the fact that as Christian Scientists 
we are as yet but imperfect followers of the perfect Christ, 
and although we may falter or stumble or loiter by the 
way, we know that the Leader of this movement, Mrs. 
Eddy, has been constantly at her post during all the 
storms that have surged against her for a generation. 
She has been the one of all the world who has encountered 
the full force of antagonism. We know, too, that during 
these years she has not tried to guide us by means of 
forced marches, but has waited for us to grow into readi- 
ness for each step, and we know that in all this time she 
has never urged upon us a step that did not result in our 
welfare. 

A year ago she quietly alluded to the need of our 
Mother Church. She knew that we were ready; the re- 
sponse was instant, spontaneous. Later on she expressed 
much gratification because of prompt and liberal action, 
and it needs no special insight to predict that she will be 
cheered and encouraged to know that, having seized upon 
this privilege and opportunity, we have also made good 
the pledge. 

[Editorial in Christian Science Sentinel, May 16, 1903] 

Our readers have been informed of the purchase of the 
land upon which the new building will be erected, and 
that this land has been paid for. The location is, there- 
fore, determined. The size of the building was decided 
last June, but there still remained for definite decision 
the amount to be expended and the date for commen- 
cing building operations. The pledge of the annual 
meeting was "any portion of two million dollars that 



12 THE FIRST CHURCH OF CHRIST, SCIENTIST 

may be necessary for this purpose/' and this of course 
carried the impHcation that work should be commenced 
as soon as the money in hand justified the letting of 
contracts. 

The spontaneous and liberal donations which enabled 
those having the work in charge to secure the large 
parcel of land adjoining The Mother Church, gives 
promise of the speedy accumulation of a sum sufficient 
to justify the decision of these remaining problems. 
Each person interested must remember, however, that 
his individual desires, both as to the amount to be 
expended and the date of commencing work, will be best 
evidenced by the liberality and promptness of his own 
contribution. 

[Mrs. Eddy in Christian Science Sentinel, May 30, 1903] 

Now AND Then 

This was an emphatic rule of St. Paul: "Behold, now 
is the accepted time." A lost opportunity is the great- 
est of losses. Whittier mourned it as what "might 
have been." We own no past, no future, we pos- 
sess only noio. If the reliable now is carelessly lost in 
speaking or in acting, it comes not back again. What- 
ever needs to be done which cannot be done now, 
God prepares the way for doing; while that which can 
be done now, but is not, increases our indebtedness to 
God. Faith in divine Love supplies the ever-present 
help and now, and gives the power to ''act in the living 
present." 

The dear children's good deeds are gems in the settings 
of manhood and womanhood. The good they desire to 



NOW AND THEN 13 

do, they insist upon doing now. They speculate neither 
on the past, present, nor future, but, taking no thought 
for the morrow, act in God's time. 

A book by Benjamin Wills Newton, called " Thoughts 
on the Apocalypse," published in London, England, in 
1853, was presented to me in 1903 by Mr. Marcus 
Holmes. This was the first that I had even heard of 
it. When scanning its interesting pages, my attention 
was arrested by the following: ''The church at Jerusalem, 
like a sun in the centre of its system, had other churches, 
like so many planets, revolving around it. It was 
strictly a mother and a ruling church." According to 
his description, the church of Jerusalem seems to pre- 
figure The Mother Church of Christ, Scientist, in 
Boston. 

I understand that the members of The Mother Church, 
out of loving hearts, pledged to this church in Boston 
any part of two millions of money with which to build 
an ample temple dedicate to God, to Him " who f orgiveth 
all thine iniquities; who healeth all thy diseases; who 
redeemeth thy life from destruction; who crowneth thee 
with lovingkindness and tender mercies; who satisfieth 
thy mouth with good things; so that thy youth is renewed 
like the eagle's," — to build a temple the spiritual spire 
of which will reach the stars with divine overtures, holy 
harmony, reverberating through all cycles of systems and 
spheres. 

Because Christian Scientists virtually pledged this 
munificent sum not only to my church but to Him who 
returns it unto them after many days, their loving giving 
has been blessed. It has crystallized into a foundation 
for our temple, and it will continue to "prosper in the 



14 THE FIRST CHURCH OF CHRIST, SCIENTIST 

thing whereto [God, Spirit] sent it." In the now they 
brought their tithes into His storehouse. Then, when 
this bringing is consummated, God will pour them out a 
blessing above the song of angels, beyond the ken of 
mortals — a blessing that two millions of love currency 
will bring to be discerned in the near future as a gleam 
of reality; not a madness and nothing, but a sanity 
and something from the individual, stupendous. Godlike 
agency of man. 

[Editorial in Christian Science Sentinel, January 2, 1904] 

A few days ago we received a letter from a friend in 
another city, saying that he had just been informed — 
and his informant claimed to have good authority for the 
statement — that the entire amount required to complete 
The Mother Church building fund had been paid in; 
consequently further payments or subscriptions were not 
desired. 

Our friend very promptly and emphatically pro- 
nounced the story a fabrication of the evil one, and he 
was entirely right in doing so. If the devil were really 
an entity, endowed with genius and inspiration, he could 
not have invented a more subtle lie with which to en- 
snare a generous and loyal people. 

As a matter of fact, the building fund is not complete, 
but it is in such a healthy state that building operations 
have been commenced, and they will be carried on without 
interruption until the church is finished. The rapidity 
with which the work will be pushed forward necessitates 
large payments of money, and it is desirable that the con- 
tributions to the building fund keep pace with the dis- 
bursements. 



COMMUNION, 1904 15 

[Christian Science Sentinel, March 5, 1904] 
Amendment to By-law 

Section 3 of Article XLI (XXXIV in revised edition) of 
the Church By-laws has been amended to read as follows : — 

The Mother Church Building. — Section 3. The 
edifice erected in 1894 for The First Church of Christ, 
Scientist, in Boston, Mass., shall neither be demolished 
nor removed from the site where it was built, without the 
written consent of the Pastor Emeritus, Mary Baker 
Eddy. 

Communion, 1904 

My Beloved Brethren: — My heart goes out to you as 
ever in daily desire that the Giver of all good transform 
you into His own image and likeness. Already I have 
said to you all that you are able to bear now, and thanking 
you for your gracious reception of it I close with Kate 
Hankey's excellent hymn, — 

I love to tell the story, 

Of unseen things above, 
Of Jesus and his glory, 

Of Jesus and his love. 
I love to tell the story, 

Because I know 'tis true; 
It satisfies my longings, 

As nothing else can do. 

I love to tell the story; 

For those who know it best 
Seem hungering and thirsting 

To hear it like the rest. 
And when, in scenes of glory, 

I sing the NEW, NEW SONG, 
'Twill be the OLD, OLD STORY 

That I have loved so long. 



16 THE FIRST CHURCH OF CHRIST, SCIENTIST 

EXTRACT FROM THE TREASURER'S REPORT, JUNE 14, 1904 

The report of Mr. Stephen A. Chase, treasurer of the 
building fund of The Mother Church, made to the 
annual meeting, showed that a total of $425,893.66 had 
been received up to and including May 31, 1904, and that 
there was a balance of $226,285.73 on hand on that date, 
after paying out the sum of $199,607.93, which included 
the purchase price of the land for the site of the new 
building. 

THE CORNER-STONE LAID 

The corner-stone of the new auditorium for The Mother 
Church in Boston was laid Saturday, July 16, 1904, at 
eight o'clock in the forenoon. In addition to the members 
of the Christian Science Board of Directors, who have 
the work directly in charge, there were present on this 
occasion: Mr. Alfred Farlow, President of The Mother 
Church; Prof. Hermann S. Hering, First Reader; Mrs. 
Ella E. Williams, Second Reader; Mr. Charles Brigham 
and Mr. E. Noyes Whitcomb, respectively the architect 
and the builder of the new edifice. 

The order of the services, which were conducted by the 
First Reader, was as follows : — 

Scripture reading, Isaiah 28 : 16, 17, — 

"Therefore thus saith the Lord God, Behold, I lay in 
Zion for a foundation a, stone, a tried stone, a precious 
corner stone, a sure foundation: he that belie veth shall 
not make haste. 

" Judgment also will I lay to the line, and righteous- 
ness to the plummet: and the hail shall sweep away the 



THE CORNER-STONE LAID 17 

refuge of lies^ and the waters shall overflow the hiding 
place." 

Also, 1 Peter 2 : 1-6, — 

"Wherefore laying aside all malice, and all guile, and 
hypocrisies, and envies, and all evil speakings, 

" As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, 
that ye may grow thereby : 

" If so be ye have tasted that the Lord is gracious. 

"To whom coming, as unto a living stone, disallowed 
indeed of men, but chosen of God, and precious, 

" Ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house, 
an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, accept- 
able to God by Jesus Christ. 

"Wherefore also it is contained in the scripture. 
Behold, I lay in Sion a chief corner stone, elect, precious: 
and he that belie veth on him shall not be confounded." 

The reading of selections from "Science and Health 
with Key to the Scriptures" by Mary Baker Eddy, — 

Page 241, lines 13-30 
" 136, " 1-5,9-14 
" 137, " 16-5 
" 583, " 12-19 
" 35, " 20-25 

This was followed by a few moments of silent prayer 
and the audible repetition of the Lord's Prayer with its 
spiritual interpretation, as given in the Christian Science 
textbook, after which the following extracts from Mrs. 
Eddy's writings were read : — 

"Hitherto, I have observed that in proportion as this 
church has smiled on His 'little ones,' He has blessed 
her. Throughout my entire connection with The Mother 



18 THE FIRST CHURCH OF CHRIST, SCIENTIST 

Church, I have seen, that in the ratio of her love for 
others, hath His love been bestowed upon her; water- 
ing her waste places, and enlarging her borders. 

"One thing I have greatly desired, and again earnestly 
request, namely, that Christian Scientists, here and else- 
where, pray daily for themselves; not verbally, nor on 
bended knee, but mentally, meekly, and importunately. 
When a hungry heart petitions the divine Father-Mother 
God for bread, it is not given a stone, — but more grace, 
obedience, and love. If this heart, humble and trustful, 
faithfully asks divine Love to feed it with the bread of 
heaven, health, holiness, it will be conformed to a fitness 
to receive the answer to its desire; then will flow into it 
the 'river of His pleasure,' the tributary of divine Love, 
and great growth in Christian Science will follow, — even 
that joy which finds one's own in another's good." (Mis- 
cellaneous Writings, p. 127.) 

"Beloved brethren, the love of our loving Lord was 
never more manifest than in its stern condemnation of all 
error, wherever found. I counsel thee, rebuke and exhort 
one another. Love all Christian churches for the gospel's 
sake; and be exceedingly glad that the churches are united 
in purpose, if not in method, to close the war between 
flesh and Spirit, and to fight the good fight till God's will 
be witnessed and done on earth as in heaven." (Christian 
Science versus Pantheism, p. 13.) 

The corner-stone was then laid by the members of the 
Christian Science Board of Directors. It contained the 
following articles: The Holy Bible; " Science and Health 
with Key to the Scriptures" and all other published 
writings of the Rev. Mary Baker Eddy, the Discoverer 



UNSELFISH LOYALTY 19 

and Founder of Christian Science; Christian Science 
Hymnal; '' The Mother Church; " the current numbers of 
The Christian Science Journal, Christian Science Sentinel, 
Der Herald der Christian Science, and the Christian Science 
Quarterly, 

The ceremony concluded with the repetition of "the 
scientific statement of being/' from Science and Health 
(p. 468), and the benediction, 2 Corinthians 13 : 14: 
"The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of 
God, and the communion of the Holy Ghost, be with you 
all. Amen." 

Unselfish Loyalty 

To one of the many branch churches which contributed 
their local church building funds to The Mother Church 
building fund, Mrs. Eddy wrote as follows : — 

First Church of Christ, Scientist, 
Colorado Springs, Col. 

Beloved Brethren : — It is conceded that our shadows 
follow us in the sunlight wherever we go; but I ask for 
more, even this: That this dear church shall be pursued 
by her substance, the immortal fruition of her unselfed 
love, and that her charity, which "seeketh not her 
own" but another's good, shall reap richly the reward of 
goodness. 

Those words of our holy Way-shower, vibrant through 
time and eternity with acknowledgment of exemplary 
giving, no doubt fill the memory and swell the hearts of 
the members of The Mother Church, because of that gift 
which you so sacredly bestowed towards its church build- 
ing fund. These are applicable words: "Verily I say 
unto you, Wheresoever this gospel shall be preached 



20 THE FIRST CHURCH OF CHRIST, SCIENTIST 

throughout the whole world, this also that she hath done 
shall be spoken of for a memorial of her. " (Mark 14 : 9.) 
Gratefully yours in Christ, 

Mary Baker Eddy. 

Pleasant View, Concord, N. H., 
September 1, 1904. 

Holiday Gifts 

Beloved Students: — The holidays are coming, and I 
trow you are awaiting on behalf of your Leader the 
loving liberty of their license. May I relieve you of 
selecting, and name your gifts to her, in advance? 
Send her only what God gives to His church. Bring 
all your tithes into His storehouse, and what you would 
expend for presents to her, please add to your givings 
to The Mother Church building fund, and let this 
suffice for her rich portion in due season. Send no gifts 
to her the ensuing season, but the evidences of glorious 
growth in Christian Science. 

Mary Baker Eddy. 

Pleasant View, Concord, N. H., 
October 31, 1904. 

A WORD FROM THE DIRECTORS, MAY, 1905 

In view of the fact that a general attendance of the 
members of The Mother Church at the communion 
and annual meeting in Boston entails the expenditure 
of a large amount of money, and the further fact that 
it is important that the building fund of The Mother 
Church should be completed as early as possible, it has 
been decided to omit this year the usual large gathering 
in Boston, and to ask the members to contribute to 



A WORD FROM THE DIRECTORS 21 

the building fund the amount which they would have 
expended in such an event. 

We all know of the loving self-sacrifices which have been 
made by many of the branch churches in transferring to 
this fund the money which had been collected for the 
purpose of building church homes of their own, and it will 
thus be seen that the course suggested will not only 
hasten the completion of The Mother Church, but will 
also advance the erection of many branch churches. 
We therefore feel sure that all Christian Scientists will 
gladly forego a visit to Boston at this time, in order to 
contribute more liberally to the building fund and thereby 
aid the progress of our Cause throughout the world. 

Christian Scientists have learned from experience that 
divine Love more than compensates for every seeming 
trial and deprivation in our loyalty to Truth, and it is 
but right to expect that those who are willing to forego 
their anticipated visit this year will receive a greater 
blessing — " good measure, pressed down, and shaken 
together, and running over." The local members, who 
have always experienced much pleasure in welcoming 
their brethren from far and near, and who have antici- 
pated much joy in meeting very many of them this year, 
will feel that they have been called upon to make no less 
sacrifice than have others; but we are confident that 
they too will be blessed, and that all will rejoice in the 
glad reunion upon the completion of the new edifice in 
Boston. 

Ira 0. Knapp, Joseph Armstrong, 

William B. Johnson, Stephen A. Chase, 
Archibald McLellan, 
The Christian Science Board of Directors, 



22 THE FIRST CHURCH OF CHRIST, SCIENTIST 

THE ANNUAL MEETING, JUNE 13, 1905 

Extract from the Clerk's Report 
In the year 1902 our Leader saw the need of a larger 
edifice for the home of The Mother Church, one that 
would accommodate the constantly increasing attendance 
at all the services, and the large gatherings at the annual 
meeting; and, at the annual meeting in June, 1902, a 
sum of money adequate to erect such a building was 
pledged. Christian Scientists have contributed already 
for this grand and noble purpose, but let us not be uncon- 
sciously blind to the further needs of the building fund, 
in order to complete this great work, nor wait to be urged 
or to be shown the absolute necessity of giving. 

Since 1866, almost forty years ago, — almost forty 
years in the wilderness, — our beloved Leader and teacher, 
Mrs. Eddy, the Founder of Christian Science, has labored 
for the regeneration of mankind; and time has put its 
seal of afiirmation upon every purpose she has set in 
motion, and the justification of her labors is the fruit. 
In these years of work she has shown wisdom, faith, and 
a spiritual discernment of the needs of the present and of 
the future that is nothing less than God-bestowed. 

In years to come the moral and the physical effects 
produced by The Llother Church, and by the advanced 
position taken by our Pastor Emeritus and Leader, will 
appear in their proper perspective. Is it not therefore 
the duty of all who have touched the healing hem of 
Christian Science, to get immediately into the proper 
perspective of the meaning of the erection of the new 
edifice of The First Church of Christ, Scientist, in 
Boston? 



wmmm^^B^^^mmimm 



THE ANNUAL MEETING, 1905 23 

It is not necessary for us to delay our contributions in 
order to find out how much our neighbor has given, or to 
compute by the total membership of The Mother Church 
what amount each shall send the Treasurer. The divine 
Love that prompted the desire, and supplied the means to 
consummate the erection of the present edifice in 1894, is 
still with us, and will bless us so long as we follow His 
commands. 

Extract from the Treasurer's Report 

Building Fund: — Amount on hand June 1, 1905, 
$303,189.41; expenditures June 1, 1904 to May 31, 1905, 
$388,663.15; total receipts June 19, 1902 to June 1, 
1905, $891,460.49. 

Amount necessary to complete the sum of $2,000,000 
pledged at the annual meeting, 1902, $1,108,539.51. 

Greeting to Mrs. Eddy from the Annual Meeting 

Beloved Teacher and Leader: — The members of your 
church. The Mother Church, The First Church of Christ, 
Scientist, in Boston, Mass., in annual business meeting 
assembled, send their loyal and loving greetings to you, 
the Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science and 
author of its textbook. 

We rejoice greatly that the walls of our new edifice are 
rising, not only to faith but also to sight ; that this temple, 
which represents the worship of Spirit, with its inseparable 
accompaniment, the Christ-healing, is being built in our 
day; and that we have the privilege of participating 
in the work of its erection. As the stately structure 
grows, and stone is laid upon stone, those who pass by are 



24 THE FIRST CHURCH OF CHRIST, SCIENTIST 

impelled to ask, What means this edifice? and they learn 
that the truth which Christ Jesus revealed — the truth 
which makes free — is to-day being proven and is ready 
to heal all who accept its divine ministry. We congratu- 
late you that the building is to express in its ample audi- 
torium something of the vastness of the truth it represents, 
and also to symbolize your unmeasured love for humanity, 
which inspires you to welcome all mankind to the privi- 
leges of this healing and saving gospel. As the walls are 
builded by the prayers and offerings of the thousands 
who have been healed through Christian Science, we know 
that you rejoice in the unity of thought and purpose 
which is thus expressed, showing that The Mother Church 
"fitly framed together groweth unto an holy temple in the 
Lord." 

[Editorial in Christian Science Sentinel, November 25, 1905] 

We are prompted to state, for the benefit of those who 
have inquired about the progress of the work on the 
extension to The Mother Church, that the erection of the 
building is proceeding rapidly; in fact, it is being pushed 
with the utmost energy, and at the present time there 
are no less than fifteen different trades represented. The 
beauty of the building, and the substantial and enduring 
character of its construction, have been remarked by the 
many visitors who have recently inspected the work, and 
they have gone away with the conviction that the structure 
is worthy of our Cause and that it will meet the needs of 
The Mother Church as well as this can be done by a 
building with a seating capacity of five thousand. 

It therefore occurs to us that there could be no more 
appropriate time for completing the building fund than 



CARD 25 

the present Thanksgiving season; and it is suggested to our 
readers that there would be great propriety in making a 
special effort during the coming week to dispose fully and 
finally of this feature of the demonstration. 

[Christian Science Sentinel, March 17; 1906] 
GIFTS FROM THE CHILDREN 

The great interest exhibited by the children who attend 
the Sunday School of The Mother Church is shown by 
their contributions to the building fund. The following 
figures are taken from the report of the secretary of the 
Sunday School and are most gratifying : 

March 1, 1903 to February 29, 1904, $621.10; March 1, 
1904 to February 28, 1905, $845.96; March 1, 1905 to 
February 28, 1906, $1,112.13; total, $2,579.19. 

Card 

Will one and all of my dear correspondents accept this, 
my answer to their fervid question: Owing to the time 
consumed in travel, et cetera, I cannot be present in 
propria persona at our annual communion and the dedi- 
cation in June next of The Mother Church of Christ, 
Scientist. But I shall be with my blessed church ''in 
spirit and in truth.'' 

I have faith in the givers and in the builders of this 
church edifice, — admiration for and faith in the grandeur 
and sublimity of this superb superstructure, wherein all 
vanity of victory disappears and the glory of divinity 
appears in all its promise. 

Mary Baker Eddy. 

Pleasant View, Concord, N. H., 
April 8, 1906. 



26 THE FIRST CHURCH OF CHRIST, SCIENTIST 

[Christian Science Sentinel, April 14, 1906] 
ANNOUXCEMEXT OF THE DEDICATION 

The Christian Science Board of Directors takes pleasure 
in announcing that the extension of The ]\Iother Church 
T\dll be dedicated on the date of the annual communion, 
Sunday, June 10, 1906. 

[Christian Science Sentinel, April 28, 1906] 

To THE Board of Directors 

My Beloved Students: — Your generous check of five 
thousand dollars, April 23, 1906, is duly received. You 
can imagine my gratitude and emotion at the touch of 
memory. Your beneficent gift is the largest sum of money 
that I have ever received from my church, and quite 
unexpected at this juncture, but not the less appreciated. 
My Message for June 10 is ready for you. It is too 
short to be printed in book form, for I thought it better 
to be brief on this rare occasion. This communion and 
dedication include enough of their own. 

The enclosed notice I submit to you, and trust that you 
will see, as I foresee, the need of it. Xow is the time to 
throttle the lie that students worship me or that I claim 
their homage. This historical dedication should date 
some special reform, and this notice is requisite to give 
the true animus of our church and denomination. 

Lo\ingly yours, 

Mary Baker Eddy. 

Pleas.^nt View, Concord, N. H., 
April 23, 1906. 



EDITORIAL 27 

Notice 

To the Beloved Members of my Church, The Mother Church, 
The First Church of Christ, Scientist, in Boston: — Divine 
Love bids me say : Assemble not at the residence of your 
Pastor Emeritus at or about the time of our annual 
meeting and communion service, for the divine and not 
the human should engage our attention at this sacred 
season of prayer and praise. 

Mary Baker Eddy. 



NOTICE TO CONTRIBUTORS TO THE BUILDING FUND 

The contributors to the building fund for the extension 
of The Mother Church, The First Church of Christ, 
Scientist, in Boston, Mass., are hereby notified that 
sufficient funds have been received for the completion of 
the church building, and the friends are requested to send 
no more money to this fund. 

Stephen A. Chase, 

Treasurer of the Building Fund, 

Boston, Mass., June 2, 1906. 



[Editorial in Christian Science Sentinel, June 9, 1906] 

Christian Scientists will read with much joy and 
thanksgiving the announcement made by Mr. Chase in 
this issue of the Sentinel that sufficient funds have been 
received by him, as treasurer of the building fund, to 
pay all bills in connection with the extension of The 
Mother Church, and to most of them the fact that he 



28 THE FIRST CHURCH OF CHRIST, SCIENTIST 

has been able to make this announcement coincident 
with the completion of the building will be deeply 
significant. Our Leader has said in Science and Health 
(p. 494), "Divine Love always has met and always 
will meet every human need/' and this has been proved 
true in the experience of many who have contributed 
to the building fund. 

The treasurer's books will show the dollars and cents 
received by him, but they can give no more than a hint of 
the unselfish efforts, and in many instances the loving 
self-sacrifice, of those who have given so generously to the 
building of this church. Suffice it to say, however, that 
the giving to this fund has stimulated those gentle 
qualities which mark the true Christian, and its influence 
upon the lives of thousands has been of immense value to 
them. 

The significance of this building is not to be found in 
the material structure, but in the lives of those who, under 
the consecrated leadership of Mrs. Eddy, and following 
her example, are doing the works which Jesus said should 
mark the lives of his followers. It stands as the visible 
symbol of a religion which heals the sick and reforms 
the sinful as our Master healed and reformed them. It 
proclaims to the world that Jesus' gospel was for all time 
and for all men; that it is as effective to-day as it was 
when he preached the Word of God to the multitudes of 
Judea and healed them of their diseases and their sins. 
It speaks for the successful labors of one divinely guided 
woman, who has brought to the world the spiritual under- 
standing of the Scriptures, and whose ministry has revealed 
the one true Science and changed the whole aspect of 
medicine and theology. 



COMMUNION SERVICE AND DEDICATION 29 

[Christian Science Sentinel, June 16, 1906. Reprinted from 
Boston Herald] 

COMMUNION SERVICE AND DEDICATION 

Five thousand people kneeling in silent communion; 
a stillness profound; and then, rising in unison from the 
vast congregation, the words of the Lord's Prayer! Such 
was the closing incident of the dedicatory services of the 
extension of The Mother Church, The First Church of 
Christ, Scientist, at the corner of Falmouth and Norway 
Streets, yesterday morning. And such was the scene 
repeated six times during the day. 

It was a sight which no one who saw it will ever be able 
to forget. Many more gorgeous church pageantries have 
been seen in this country and in an older civilization; 
there have been church ceremonies that appealed more 
to the eye, but the impressiveness of this lay in its very 
simplicity; its grandeur sprang from the complete 
unanimity of thought and of purpose. There was some- 
thing emanating from the thousands who worshipped 
under the dome of the great edifice whose formal open- 
ing they had gathered to observe, that appealed to and 
fired the imagination. A comparatively new religion 
launching upon a new era, assuming an altogether differ- 
ent status before the world! 

Even the sun smiled kindly upon the dedication of the 
extension of The Mother Church. With a cooling breeze 
to temper the heat, the thousands who began to congregate 
about the church as early as half past five in the morning 
were able to wait patiently for the opening of the doors 
without suffering the inconveniences of an oppressive day. 
From that time, until the close of the evening service. 



30 THE FIRST CHURCH OF CHRIST, SCIENTIST 

Falmouth and Norway Streets held large crowds of people, 
either coming from a service or awaiting admission to 
one. As all the services were precisely the same in every 
respect, nobody attended more than one, so that there 
were well over thirty thousand people who witnessed 
the opening. Not only did these include Scientists from 
all over the world, and nearly all the local Scientists, 
but many hundreds of other faiths, drawn to the church 
from curiosity, and from sympathy, too. 

It spoke much for the devotion of the members to their 
faith, the character of the attendance. In those huge 
congregations were business men come from far distant 
points at personal sacrifices of no mean order; profes- 
sional men, devoted women members, visitors from 
Australia, from India, from England, from Germany, 
from Switzerland, from South Africa, from Hawaii, from 
the coast States. 

They gave generously of their means in gratitude for the 
epoch-making event. The six collections were large, and 
when the plates were returned after having been through 
the congregations, they were heaped high with bills, with 
silver, and with gold. Some of these contributions were 
one-hundred-dollar bills. Without ostentation and quite 
voluntarily the Scientists gave a sum surpassing some of 
the record collections secured by evangelists for the work 
of Christianity. 

Though the church was filled for the service at half 
past seven, and hundreds had to be turned away, by far 
the largest crowd of the day applied for admission at the 
ten o'clock service, and it was representative of the entire 
body of the Christian Science church. 

Before half past seven the chimes of the new church 



COMMUNION SERVICE AND DEDICATION 31 

began to play, first the "Communion Hymn," succeeded 
by the following hymns throughout the day: "The 
morning light is breaking;" "Shepherd, show me how 
to go;" "Just as I am, without one plea;" "I need 
Thee every hour;" "Blest Christmas morn;" "Abide 
with me;" "Day by day the manna fell;" "Oh, the 
clanging bells of time;" "Still, still with Thee;" "O'er 
waiting harpstrings of the mind;" Doxology. 

Promptly at half past six the numerous doors of the 
church were thrown open and the public had its first 
glimpse of the great structure, the cost of which approxi- 
mates two millions of dollars, contributed from over the 
entire world. The first impression was of vastness, then 
of light and cheerfulness, and when the vanguard of the 
thousands had been seated, expressions of surprise and of 
admiration were heard on every hand for the beauty and 
the grace of the architecture. The new home for worship 
that was opened by the Scientists in Boston yesterday 
can take a place in the front rank of the world's houses 
of worship, and it is no wonder that the first sight which 
the visitors caught of its interior should have impressed 
them as one of the events of their lives. 

First Reader William D. McCrackan, accompanied by 
the Second Reader, Mrs. Laura Carey Conant, and the 
soloist for the services, Mrs. Hunt, was on the Readers' 
platform. Stepping to the front of the platform, when 
the congregation had taken their seats, the First Reader 
announced simply that they would sing Hymn 161, 
written by Mrs. Eddy, as the opening of the dedicatory 
service. And what singing it was! As though trained 
carefully under one leader, the great body of Scientists 
joined in the song of praise. 



32 THE FIRST CHURCH OF CHRIST, SCIENTIST 

Spontaneous unanimity and repetition in unison were 
two of the most striking features of the services. When, 
after five minutes of silent communion at the end of the 
service, the congregation began to repeat the Lord's 
Prayer, they began all together, and their voices rose as 
one in a heartfelt appeal to the creator. 

So good are the acoustic properties of the new structure 
that Mr. McCrackan and Mrs. Conant could be heard 
perfectly in every part of it, and they did not have to lift 
their voices above the usual platform tone. , 

Following the organ voluntary — Fantasie in E minor, 
Merkel — the order of service was as follows : — 

Hymn 161, from the Hymnal. Words by the Rev. 
Mary Baker Eddy. 

Reading from the Scriptures: Deuteronomy 26 : 1, 2, 
5-10 (first sentence). 

Silent prayer, followed by the audible repetition of the 
Lord's Prayer with its spiritual interpretation as given in 
the Christian Science textbook. 

Hymn 166, from the Hymnal. 

Reading of notices. 

Reading of Tenets of The Mother Church. 

Collection. 

Solo, ^'Communion Hymn," words by the Rev. Mary 
Baker Eddy, music by William Lyman Johnson. 

Reading of annual Message from the Pastor Emeritus, 
the Rev. Mary Baker Eddy. 

Reading the specially prepared Lesson-Sermon. 

After the reading of the Lesson-Sermon, silent com- 
munion, which concluded with the audible repetition of 
the Lord's Prayer. 



COMMUNION SERVICE AND DEDICATION 33 

Singing the Communion Doxology. 

Reading of a despatch from the members of the church 
to Mrs. Eddy. 

Reading of '^ the scientific statement of being " (Sci- 
ence and Health, p. 468), and the correlative Scripture, 
1 John 3 : 1-3. 

The benediction. 

The subject of the special Lesson-Sermon was "Adam, 
Where Art Thou?" the Golden Text: "Search me, O 
God, and know my heart: try me, and know my 
thoughts: and see if there be any wicked way in me, 
and lead me in the way everlasting." (Psalms 139 : 23, 
24.) The responsive reading was from Psalms 15 : 1-5; 
24 : 1-6, 9, 10. 

1 Lord, who shall abide in thy tabernacle? who shall 
dwell in thy holy hill? 

2 He that walketh uprightly, and worketh righteous- 
ness, and speaketh the truth in his heart. 

3 He that backbiteth not with his tongue, nor doeth 
evil to his neighbor, nor taketh up a reproach against his 
neighbor. 

4 In whose eyes a vile person is contemned; but he 
honoreth them that fear the Lord. He that sweareth to 
his own hurt, and changeth not. 

5 He that putteth not out his money to usury, nor 
taketh reward against the innocent. He that doeth these 
things shall never be moved. • 

1 The earth is the Lord's, and the fulness thereof; 
the world, and they that dwell therein. 

2 For he hath founded it upon the seas, and established 
it upon the floods. 



34 THE FIRST CHURCH OF CHRIST, SCIENTIST 

3 Who shall ascend into the hill of the Lord? or who 
shall stand in his holy place? 

4 He that hath clean hands, and a pure heart; who 
hath not lifted up his soul unto vanity, nor sworn 
deceitfully. 

5 He shall receive the blessing from the Lord, and 
righteousness from the God of his salvation. 

6 This is the generation of them that seek him, that 
seek thy face, O Jacob. 

9 Lift up your heads, O ye gates; even lift them up, ye 
everlasting doors; and the King of glory shall come in. 

10 Who is this King of glory? The Lord of hosts, he 
is the King of glory. 

The Lesson-Sermon consisted of the following citations 
from the Bible and " Science and Health with Key to the 
Scriptures" by the Rev. Mary Baker Eddy, and was 
read by Mr. McCrackan and Mrs. Conant: — 



The Bible 
Genesis 3 : 9-11 
Proverbs 8 : 1, 4, 7 
Mark 2 : 15-17 



II 



Science and Health ^ 
224 : 22 
559 : 8-10, 19 
181 : 21-25 
307 : 31-8 



Psalms 51 : 1-3, 6, 10, 12, 
13, 17 



308 : 8, 16-28 This; 

Jacob 
323 : 19-24, 28-32 
When; The effects 
1 The Science and Health references in this lesson are according 
to the 1913 edition. 



COMMUNION SERVICE AND DEDICATION 35 



III 



The Bible 


Science and Health 


Hebrews 11 : 1, 3, 6 




297 : 20 Faith 


Proverbs 3 : 5, 6 




241 : 23-27 


Job 28 : 20, 23, 28 




275 : 25 


1 Corinthians 14 : 20 


IV 


505 : 21-28 Under- 
standing 
536:8 


Psalms 86 : 15, 16 




345 : 31 


Matthew 9 : 2-8 


V 


337 : 10 

525 : 4 

494 : 30-2 Our Master 

476 : 32-4 

171 :4 


Mark 12 : 30, 31 




9 : 17-21 Dost thou 


John 21 : 1 (first 




53 : 8-11 


clause), 14-17 




54 : 29-1 


1 John 4 : 21 


VI 


560 : 11-19, 22 The 

great; Abuse 
565 : 18-22. 


John 21 : 4-6, 9, 12, ] 


L3 


34 : 29-29 


Revelation 3 : 20 






Revelation 7 : 13, 14, 


16,17 





During the progress of each service. First Reader 
William D. McCrackan read to the congregation the 



36 THE FIRST CHURCH OF CHRIST, SCIENTIST 

dedicatory Message from their teacher and Leader, Mrs. 
Mary Baker Eddy. 

The telegram from the church to Mrs. Eddy was read 
by Mr. Edward A. Kimball of Chicago, and the five 
thousand present rose as one to indicate their approval 
of it. 

Rev. Maey Baker Eddy, Pastor Emeritus. 

Beloved Teacher and Leader: — The members of your 
church have assembled at this sacred time to commune 
with our infinite heavenly Father and again to consecrate 
all that we are or hope to be to a holy Christian service 
that shall be acceptable unto God. 

Most of us are here because we have been delivered from 
beds of sickness or withheld from open graves or reclaimed 
from vice or redeemed from obdurate sin. We have ex- 
changed the tears of sorrow for the joy of repentance and 
the peace of a more righteous living, and now with blessed 
accord we are come, in humility, to pour out our gratitude 
to God and to bear witness to the abundance of salvation 
through His divine Christ. 

At this altar, dedicated to the only true God, we who 
have been delivered from the depths increase the measure 
of our devotion to the daily life and purpose which are in 
the image and likeness of God. 

By these stately walls; by this sheltering dome; by 
all the beauty of color and design, the Christian Scientists 
of the world, in tender affection for the cause of human 
weal, have fulfilled a high resolve and set up this taber- 
nacle, which is to stand as an enduring monument, a sign 
of your understanding and proof that our Supreme 
God, through His power and law, is the natural healer 



COMMUNION SERVICE AND DEDICATION 37 

of all our diseases and hath ordained the way of salva- 
tion of all men from all evil. No vainglorious boast, 
no pride of circumstances has place within the sacred 
confines of this sanctuary. Naught else than the gran- 
deur of humility and the incense of gratitude and com- 
passionate love can acceptably ascend heavenward from 
this house of God. 

It is from the depths of tenderest gratitude, respect, 
and affection that we declare again our high appreciation 
of all that you have done and continue to do for the ever- 
lasting advantage of this race. Through you has been 
revealed the verity and rule of the Christianity of Christ 
which has ever healed the sick. By your fidelity and the 
constancy of your obedience during forty years you have 
demonstrated this Science before the gaze of universal 
humanity. By reason of your spiritual achievement the 
Cause of Christian Science has been organized and main- 
tained, its followers have been prospered, and the philos- 
ophy of the ages transformed. Recognizing the grand 
truth that God is the supreme cause of all the activities of 
legitimate existence, we also recognize that He has made 
known through your spiritual perception the substance 
of Christian Science, and that this church owes itself and 
its prosperity to the unbroken activity of your labors, 
which have been and will still be the pretext for our 
confident and favorable expectation. 

We have read your annual Message to this church. 
We are deeply touched by its sweet entreaty, its ineffable 
loving-kindness, its wise counsel and admonition. 

With sacred resolution do we pray that we may give 
heed and ponder and obey. We would be glad if our 
prayers, our rejoicing, and our love could recompense your 



38 THE FIRST CHURCH OF CHRIST, SCIENTIST 

long sacrifice and bestow upon you the balm of heavenly 
joy, but knowing that every perfect gift cometh from 
above, and that in God is all consolation and comfort, 
we rest in this satisfying assurance, while we thank you 
and renew the story of our love for you and for all that 
you are and all that you have done for us. 

William B. Johnson, Clerk. 

By means of a carefully trained corps of ushers, num- 
bering two hundred, there was no confusion in finding 
seats, and when all seating space had been filled no more 
were admitted until the next service. The church was 
filled for each service in about twenty minutes, and was 
emptied in twelve, in spite of the fact that many of 
the visitors showed a tendency to tarry to examine the 
church. 

It was "children's day" at noon, for the service at half 
past twelve was specially reserved for them. They filled 
all the seats in the body of the church, and when it came 
to the singing, the little ones were not a whit behind their 
elders, their shrill trebles rising with the roll of the organ 
in almost perfect time. In every respect their service was 
the same as all the others. 

There was no more impressive feature of the dedication 
than the silent communion. Devout Scientists said after 
the service that they would ever carry with them the 
memory of it. 

THE ANNUAL MEETING, JUNE 12, 1906 

The annual meeting of The First Church of Christ, 
Scientist, in Boston, was held in the extension of The 
Mother Church, Tuesday, June 12, at ten o'clock in the 



THE ANNUAL MEETING, 1906 39 

forenoon, and in order to accommodate those who could 
not gain admittance at that hour a second session was held 
at two o'clock in the afternoon. The meeting was opened 
by the President, Rev. William P. McKenzie, who read 
from the Bible and Science and Health as follows ; — 

The Bible Science and Health 

Isaiah 54 : 1-5, 10-15, 571 : 22 

17 574 : 3-16, 27 The Revela- 

Revelation 19 : 1, 6-9. tor; The very 

577 : 4. 

Then followed a short silent prayer and the audible 
repetition of the Lord's Prayer, in which all joined. The 
following list of officers for the ensuing year was read by 
the Clerk: — 

President, WilUs F. Gross, C.S.B.; Treasurer, Stephen 
A. Chase, C.S.D.; Clerk, Wilham B. Johnson, C.S.D. 

In introducing the new President, Mr. McKenzie said : — 

When I introduce the incoming President, my modest 
task will be ended. You will allow me, however, the 
privilege of saying a few words of reminder and prophecy. 
My thoughts revert to a former occasion, when it was my 
pleasant duty to preside at an annual meeting when our 
Pastor Emeritus, Mrs. Eddy, was present. We remember 
her graciousness and dignity. We recall the harmonious 
tones of her gentle voice. Our hearts were thrilled by her 
compassion, and the memory lives with us. But even more 
distinctly may we realize her presence with us to-day. 
Why? Because our own growth in love and unity enables 
us to comprehend better the strength and beauty of her 
character. 



40 THE FIRST CHURCH OF CHRIST, SCIENTIST 

Moreover, this completed extension of The Mother 
Church is an evidence to us of her hospitable love. She 
has desired for years to have her church able to give 
more adequate reception to those who hunger and thirst 
after practical righteousness; and we are sure that now 
the branch churches of The Mother Church will also en- 
large their hospitality, so that these seekers everywhere 
may be satisfied. This will imply the subsidence of criti- 
cism among workers. It may even imply that some who 
have been peacebreakers shall willingly enter into the 
blessedness of peacemakers. Nothing will be lost, how- 
ever, by those who relinquish their cherished resentments, 
forsake animosity, and abandon their strongholds of 
rivalry. Through rivalries among leaders Christendom 
became divided into warring sects; but the demand 
of this age is for peacemaking, so that Christianity 
may more widely reassert its pristine power to bring 
health and a cure to pain-racked and sorrow-worn hu- 
manity. "The wisdom that is from above is first 
pure, then peaceable, . . . And the fruit of righteous- 
ness is sown in peace of them that make peace." 
"Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called 
the children of God." 

Our Leader, Mrs. Eddy, has presented to the world the 
ideal of Christianity, because she is an exact metaphysi- 
cian. She has illustrated what the poet perceived when he 
said, "All's love, but all's law." She has obeyed the divine 
Principle, Love, without regrets and without resistance. 
Human sense often rebels against law, hence the proverb : 
Dura lex, sed lex (Hard is the law, nevertheless it is 
the law). But by her own blameless and happy life, 
as well as by her teachings, our Leader has induced a 



THE ANNUAL MEETING, 1906 41 

multitude — how great no man can number — to be- 
come gladly obedient to law, so that they think rightly 
or righteously. 

No one can change the law of Christian metaphysics, 
the law of right thinking, nor in any wise alter its 
effects. It is a forever fact that the meek and lowly in 
heart are blessed and comforted by divine Love. If the 
proud are lonely and uncomforted, it is because they 
have thoughts adverse to the law of love. Pride, arro- 
gance, and self-will are unmerciful, and so receive judg- 
ment without mercy; but the law of metaphysics says, 
"Blessed are the merciful,'^ and will allow no one to 
escape that blessedness, howsoever far he may stray, 
whatsoever lawlessness of hatred he may practise and 
suffer from. 

So we see that Christian Science makes no compromise 
with evil, sin, wrong, or imperfection, but maintains the 
perfect standard of truth and righteousness and joy. It 
teaches us to rise from sentimental affection which ad- 
mires friends and hates enemies, into brotherly love which 
is just and kind to all and unable to cherish any enmity. 
It brings into present and hourly application what Paul 
termed "the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus," and 
shows man that his real estate is one of blessedness. Why 
should any one postpone his legitimate joy, and disregard 
his lawful inheritance, which is "incorruptible and unde- 
filed"? Our Leader and teacher not only discovered 
Christian Science, but through long years of consecration 
has obeyed its every demand, for our sakes as well as 
for her own; and we begin to understand how illim- 
itable is the Love which supports such selfless devotion, 
we begin to comprehend the "beauty of holiness," and 



42 THE FIRST CHURCH OF CHRIST, SCIENTIST 

to be truly grateful to her who has depicted its form 
and comeliness. We have found it true that "she 
openeth her mouth with wisdom; and in her tongue is 
the law of kindness." 

It is my pleasure to introduce to you a faithful follower 
of this Leader as the President for the coming year, Willis 
F. Gross, C.S.B., one who has for many years "witnessed 
a good confession" in the practice of Christian Science. 
You are no doubt already acquainted with him as one of 
the helpful contributors to our periodicals, so that any 
further words of mine are unnecessary. 

Mr. Gross, on assuming office, said : — 

Beloved Friends : — Most unexpectedly to me came the 
call to serve you in this capacity, and I desire to improve 
this opportunity to express my thanks for the honor con- 
ferred upon me. With a heart filled with gratitude for the 
countless blessings which have come into my life through 
Christian Science, I shall endeavor to perform this service 
to the best of my ability. 

It affords me great pleasure to welcome you to our first 
annual meeting held in the extension of The Mother 
Church. I shall not attempt to speak of the deep signifi- 
cance of this momentous occasion. I realize that only as 
infinite good unfolds in each individual consciousness can 
we begin to comprehend, even in small degree, how great 
is the work that has been inaugurated by our beloved 
Leader, how faithful is her allegiance to God, how untiring 
are her efforts, and how successful she is in the performance 
of her daily tasks. 

"With a mighty hand, and with an outstretched arm" 
were, the children of Israel delivered from the bondage of 



THE ANNUAL MEETING, 1906 43 

the Egyptians, but this deUverance did not put them in 
possession of the promised land. An unknown wilder- 
ness was before them, and that wilderness must be con- 
quered. The law was given that they might know what 
was required of them, that they might have a definite rule 
of action whereby to order aright the affairs of daily life. 
Obedience to the demands of the law revealed the God 
of their fathers, and they learned to know Him. During 
their sojourn in the wilderness they suffered defeats and 
met with disappointments, but they learned from experi- 
ence and finally became willingly obedient to the voice of 
their leader. The crossing of the Jordan brought them 
into the promised land, and this experience was almost 
as marvellous as had been the passage of the Red Sea 
forty years before. In obedience to the command of 
Joshua, twelve stones taken from the midst of the river 
were set up on the other side for a memorial. In future 
generations when it was asked, "What mean ye by these 
stones?" it was told them: Israel came over this Jordan 
on dry ground. 

Forty years ago the Science of Christian healing was 
revealed to our beloved Leader, the Rev. Mary Baker 
Eddy. A few years later she gave us our textbook, 
" Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures." Obedi- 
ence to the teachings of this book has brought us to this 
hour. We have learned from experience, and to-day we 
rejoice that we have found in Christian Science that 
which heals and saves. 

The world looks with wonder upon this grand achieve- 
ment, — the completion and dedication of our magnificent 
temple, — and many are asking, " What mean ye by these 
stones?" The answer is, The way out of the wilderness 



44 THE FIRST CHURCH OF CHRIST, SCIENTIST 

of human beliefs has been revealed. Through the under- 
standing of God as an ever-present help, the sick are being 
healed, the shackles of sin are being broken, heavy burdens 
are being laid down, tears are being wiped away, and 
Israel is going up to possess the promised land of eternal, 
harmonious existence. 

Friends, our progress may be fast or it may be slow, 
but one thing is certain, it will be sure, if we are obe- 
dient to the loving counsel of our ever faithful Leader. 
The Christ is here, has come to individual conscious- 
ness; and the faithful disciple rejoices in prophecy ful- 
filled, "Lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of 
the world.'' 

Telegram to Mrs, Eddy 

Judge Septimus J. Hanna then advanced to the 
front of the platform, read the following despatch, and 
moved that it be forwarded at once to our Leader, 
Mrs. Eddy. The motion was carried unanimously by a 
rising vote. 

The despatch was as follows : — 

To THE Rev. Mary Baker Eddy, 

Pleasant View, Concord, N. H. 

Beloved Teacher and Leader: — The members of The 
Mother Church, The First Church of Christ, Scientist, 
in Boston, Mass., in annual meeting assembled, hereby 
convey to you their sincere greetings and their deep 
love. 

They desire to express their continued loyalty to your 
teachings, their unshaken confidence in the unerring wis- 
dom of your leadership, and their confident assurance 



THE ANNUAL MEETING, 1906 45 

that strict and intelligent recognition of and obedience to 
the comprehensive means by you provided for the further- 
ance of our Cause, will result in its perpetuity as well 
as in the ultimate regeneration of its adherents and of 
mankind. 

We are witnessing with joy and gratitude the significant 
events associated with this, one of the greatest and most 
important gatherings of Christian Scientists in the annals 
of our history. Yet the upwards of thirty thousand who 
are physically present at the dedication represent only a 
small part of the entire body who are of us and with us 
in the animus and spirit of our movement. 

The great temple is finished ! That which you have long 
prophetically seen has been accomplished. The magnifi- 
cent edifice stands a fitting monument of your obedience 
and fidelity to the divine Principle revealed to you in that 
momentous hour when purblind mortal sense declared you 
to be in extremis. You followed unswervingly the guid- 
ance of Him who went before you by day in a pillar of 
cloud to lead you in the way, and by night in a pillar 
of fire to give you light, and the results of such following 
have been marvellous beyond human ken. As clearly 
as in retrospect we see the earlier leading, we now discern 
the fulfilment of the later prophecy, that " He took not 
away the pillar of cloud by day, nor the pillar of fire by 
night," for each advancing step has logically followed 
the preceding one. 

The great temple is finished ! This massive pile of New 
Hampshire granite and Bedford stone, rising to a height 
of two hundred and twenty-four feet, one foot loftier than 
the Bunker Hill monument, stands a material type of 
Truth's permanence. In solid foundation, in symmetrical 



46 THE FIRST CHURCH OF CHRIST, SCIENTIST 

arches, in generous hallways, in commodious foyer and 
broad stairways, in exquisite and expansive auditorium, 
and in towering, overshadowing dome, the great structure 
stands, silently but eloquently beckoning us on towards 
a higher and more spiritual plane of living, for we know 
that without this spiritual significance it were but a pass- 
ing dream. 

In the best sense it stands in prophetic verity of the 
primary declaration of this church in its original organiza- 
tion; namely, "To organize a church designed to com- 
memorate the word and works of our Master, which should 
reinstate primitive Christianity and its lost element 
of healing.'' (Church Manual, p. 17.) To rise to the 
demands of this early pronouncement is the work of true 
Christian Scientists. 

To preach the gospel and heal the sick on the Christ- 
basis is the essential requirement of a reinstated Chris- 
tianity. Only as we pledge ourselves anew to this demand, 
and then fulfil the pledge in righteous living, are we faith- 
ful, obedient, deserving disciples. 

On this solemn occasion, and in the presence of this 
assembled host, we do hereby pledge ourselves to a deeper 
consecration, a more sincere and Christly love of God and 
our brother, and a more implicit obedience to the sacred 
teachings of the Bible and our textbook, as well as to the 
all-inclusive instructions and admonitions of our Church 
Manual in its spiritual import, that we may indeed reach 
" unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, 
and to an innumerable company of angels, to the general 
assembly and church of the firstborn." 

William B. Johnson, Clerk. 

Boston, IMass., June 12, 1906. 



THE ANNUAL MEETING, 1906 47 

Report of the Clerk 

Beloved Brethren of The First Church of Christ, Scientist, 
in Boston, Mass.: — It seems meet at this time, when 
thousands of Christian Scientists have gathered here 
from all parts of the world, many of whom have not had 
the means of knowing the steps by which this church has 
reached its present growth, to present in this report a few 
of the stages of its progress, as gleaned from the pages of 
its history. 

After a work has been established, has grown to great 
magnitude, and people the world over have been touched 
by its influence for good, it is with joy that those who have 
labored unceasingly for the work look back to the pictur- 
esque, interesting, and epoch-marking stages of its growth, 
and recall memories of trials, progress, and victories that 
are precious each and all. To-day we look back over the 
years that have passed since the inception of this great 
Cause, and we cannot help being touched by each land- 
mark of progress that showed a forward effort into the 
well-earned joy that is with us now. For a Cause that 
has rooted itself in so many distant lands, and inspired so 
many of different races and tongues into the demonstration 
of the knowledge of God, the years that have passed since 
Mrs. Eddy founded her first church seem but a short 
time. And this little church, God's word in the wilder- 
ness of dogma and creed, opened an era of Christian 
worship founded on the commands of Jesus: "Go ye 
into all the world, and preach the gospel to every 
creature. . . . And these signs shall follow them that 
believe; In my name shall they cast out devils; they 
shall speak with new tongues; they shall take up ser- 



48 THE FIRST CHURCH OF CHRIST, SCIENTIST 

pents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not 
hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they 
shall recover." 

Not until nineteen centuries had passed was there one 
ready to receive the inspiration, to restore to human con- 
sciousness the stone that had been rejected, and which 
Mrs. Eddy made "the head of the corner" of The Church 
of Christ, Scientist. 

With the reading of her textbook, "Science and 
Health with Key to the Scriptures," Mrs. Eddy insisted 
that her students make, every day, a prayerful study of 
the Bible, and obtain the spiritual understanding of its 
promises. Upon this she founded the future growth of 
her church, and twenty-six years later the following 
splendid appreciation of her efforts appeared in the 
Methodist Review from the pen of the late Frederick 
Lawrence Knowles : — 

"Mrs. Eddy ... in her insistence upon the constant 
daily reading of the Bible and her own writings, . . . 
has given to her disciples a means of spiritual development 
which . . . will certainly build such truth as they do gain 
into the marrow of their characters. The scorn of the 
gross and sensual, and the subordination of merely material 
to spiritual values, together with the discouragement of 
care and worry, are all forces that make for righteousness. 
And they are burned indelibly upon the mind of the 
neophyte every day through its reading. The intellects 
of these people are not drugged by scandal, drowned in 
frivolity, or paralyzed by sentimental fiction. . . . They 
feed the higher nature through the mind, and I am bound 
as an observer of them to say, in all fairness, that the 
result is already manifest in their faces, their conversation, 



THE ANNUAL MEETING, 1906 49 

and their bearing, both in pubUc and private. What 
wonder that when these smihng people say, 'Come thou 
with us, and we will do thee good,' the hitherto half- 
persuaded one is wholly drawn over, as by an irresistible 
attraction. The religious body which can direct, and con- 
trol, in no arbitrary sense, but through sane counsel, the 
reading of its membership, stands a great chance of sweep- 
ing the world within a generation." 

The charter of this little church was obtained August 
23, 1879, and in the same month the members extended a 
unanimous invitation to Mrs. Eddy to become its pastor. 
At a meeting of those who were interested in forming the 
church, Mrs. Eddy was appointed on the committee to 
formulate the rules and by-laws, also the tenets and church 
covenant. The first business meeting of the church was 
held August 16, 1879, in Charlestown, Mass., for the pur- 
pose of electing officers. August 22 the Clerk, by instruc- 
tions received at the previous meeting, sent an invitation 
to Mrs. Eddy to become pastor of the church. August 27 
the church held a meeting, with Mrs. Eddy in the chair. 
An interesting record of this meeting reads : " The minutes 
of the previous meeting were read and approved. Then 
Mrs. Eddy proceeded to instruct those present as to their 
duties in the Church of Christ, giving some useful hints as 
to the mode of conducting the church." 

At a meeting held October 19, 1879, it was unanimously 
voted that " Dr. and Mrs. Eddy merited the thanks of the 
society for their devoted labors in the cause of Truth," 
and at the annual meeting, December 1 of the same year, 
it was voted to instruct the Clerk to call Mrs. Eddy 
to the pastorate of the church, and at this meeting Mrs. 
Eddy accepted the call. The first meeting of this little 



50 THE FIRST CHURCH OF CHRIST, SCIENTIST 

church for dehberation before a Communion Sabbath 
was held at the home of the pastor, Mrs. Eddy, Jan- 
uary 2, 1880. 

Most of those present had left their former church 
homes, in which they had labored faithfully and ardently, 
and had united themselves into a little band of prayerful 
workers. As the Pilgrims felt the strangeness of their 
new home, the vast gloom of the mysterious forests, and 
knew not the trials before them, so this little band of 
pioneers, guided by their dauntless Leader and teacher, 
starting out on their labors against the currents of dogma, 
creed, sickness, and sin, must have felt a peculiar sense of 
isolation, for their records state, "The tone of this meeting 
for deliberation before Communion Sabbath was rather 
sorrowful;" but as they turned steadfastly from the mor- 
tal side, and looked towards the spiritual, as the records 
further relate, "yet there was a feeling of trust in the 
great Father, of Love prevailing over the apparently dis- 
couraging outlook of the Church of Christ." The Com- 
munion Sunday, however, brought fresh courage to the 
earnest band, and the records contain these simple but 
suggestive words, — "Sunday, January 4, 1880. The 
church celebrated her Communion Sabbath as a church, 
and it was a very inspiring season to us all, and two new 
members were added to the church." This was indeed 
the little church in the wilderness, and few knew of its 
teachings, but those few saw the grandeur of its work 
and were willing to labor for the Cause. 

The record of May 23, 1880, more than twenty-six years 
ago, states: "Our pastor, Mrs. Eddy, preached her fare- 
well sermon to the church. The business committee met 
after the services to call a general meeting of the church 



THE ANNUAL MEETING, 1906 51 

to devise means to pay our pastor, so as to keep her with 
us, as there is no one in the world who could take her place 
in teaching us the Science of Life." May 26 of the same 
year the following resolutions were passed: "That the 
members of the Church of Christ, and all others now in- 
terested in said church, do most sincerely regret that our 
pastor, Mrs. Eddy, feels it her duty to tender her resigna- 
tion, and while we feel that she has not met with the 
support that she should have reason to expect, we venture 
to hope she will remain with us. That it would be a 
serious blow to her Cause to have the public services 
discontinued at a time when there is such an interest 
manifested on the part of the people, and we know of no 
one who is so able as she to lead us to the higher under- 
standing of Christianity, whereby to heal the sick and 
reform the sinner. It was moved to instruct the Clerk to 
have our pastor remain with us for a few Sundays if not 
permanently." 

At a meeting of the church, December 15, 1880, an invi- 
tation was extended to Mrs. Eddy to accept the pastorate 
for the ensuing year; but, as the records state, "she gave 
no definite answer, believing that it was for the interest 
of the Cause, and her duty, to go into new fields to 
teach and preach." 

An interesting record relative to this very early work of 
the church, and its appreciation of Mrs. Eddy's tireless 
labors, is that of July 20, 1881, which reads, "That we, 
the members of The Church of Christ, Scientist, tender to 
our beloved pastor, Mrs. Eddy, the heartfelt thanks and 
gratitude shared by all who have attended the services, in 
appreciation of her earnest endeavors, her arduous labors, 
and successful instructions to heal the sick, and reform 



52 THE FIRST CHURCH OF CHRIST, SCIENTIST 

the sinner, by metaphysical truth or Christian Science, dur- 
ing the past year. Resolved : That while she had many 
obstacles to overcome, many mental hardships to endure, 
she has borne them bravely, blessing them that curse her, 
loving them that despitefully use her, thereby giving in 
her Christian example, as well as her instructions, the 
highest type of womanhood, or the love that heals. And 
while we sincerely acknowledge our indebtedness to her, 
and to God, for these blessings, we, each and all, will make 
greater efforts more faithfully to sustain her in her work. 
Resolved: That while we realize the rapid growth, and 
welcome the fact of the spreading world wide of this great 
truth, that Mind, Truth, Life, and Love, as taught and 
expressed by our pastor, does heal the sick, and, when 
understood, does bring out the perfection of all things, we 
also realize we must use more energy and unselfish labor 
to establish these our Master's commands and our pastor's 
teachings, namely, heal the sick, and preach the gospel, 
and love our neighbor as ourselves." 

Eighteen years ago, the Rev. James Henry Wiggin, who 
was not a Christian Scientist, wrote as follows: "What- 
ever is to be Mrs. Eddy's future reputation, time will 
show. Little cares she, if only through her work Truth 
may be glorified. More than once, in her earnestness, she 
has reached her bottom dollar, but the interest of the 
world to hear her word has always filled her coffers anew. 
Within a few months she has made sacrifices from which 
most authors would have shrunk, to insure the moral 
rightness of her book." This statement ''Phare Pleigh" 
[the nom de plume of the Rev. James Henry Wiggin] 
makes out of his own peculiar knowledge of the circum- 
stances. " Day after day flew by, and weeks lengthened 



THE ANNUAL MEETING, 1906 53 

into months; from every quarter came important mis- 
sives of inquiry and mercantile reproach; hundreds of 
dollars were sunk into a bottomless sea of corrections; 
yet not until the authoress was satisfied that her duty 
was wholly done, would she allow printer and binder to 
send forth her book to the world." This book has now 
reached its four hundredth edition, each of one thousand 
copies. 

On September 8, 1882, it was voted that the church 
hold its meetings of worship in the parlors of Mrs. Eddy's 
home, 569 Columbus Avenue, Boston. The services were 
held there until November, 1883, and then in the Haw- 
thorne Rooms, at No. 3 Park Street, the seating capacity 
of which place was about two hundred and twenty- 
five. At a meeting October 22, 1883, the church voted 
to wait upon Mrs. Eddy, to ascertain if she would 
preach for the society for ten dollars a Sunday, which 
invitation she accepted. After establishing itself as a 
church in the Hawthorne Rooms, the number of atten- 
dants steadily increased. The pulpit was supplied by 
Mrs. Eddy, when she could give the time to preach, 
and by her students and by clergymen of different 
denominations, among whom was the Rev. A. J. Pea- 
body, D.D., of Cambridge, Mass. 

The annual report of the business committee of the 
church, for the year ending December 7, 1885, contains 
some very interesting statements, among which is this: 
"There was a steadily increasing interest in Christian 
Science among the people, even though the continuity 
of thought must have been very much broken by having 
so many different ones address them on the subject. 
When our pastor preached for us it was found that the 



54 THE FIRST CHURCH OF CHRIST, SCIENTIST 

Hawthorne Rooms were inadequate for the occasion, 
hundreds going away who could not obtain entrance; 
those present enduring the inconvenience that comes 
from crowding, for the sake of the eternal truth she 
taught them." The Boston Traveler contained the fol- 
lowing item : " The Church of Christ, Scientist, had their 
meeting Easter Sunday at Hawthorne Rooms, which 
were crowded one hour before the service commenced, 
and half an hour before the arrival of the pastor, the 
Rev. Mary Baker Eddy, the tide of men and women 
was turned from the door with the information, *No 
more standing-room.'" 

On February 8, 1885, communion was held at Odd 
Fellows Hall, and there were present about eight hundred 
people. At this time the Hawthorne Rooms, which had 
been regarded as the church home, were outgrown. Dur- 
ing the summer vacation, different places were considered, 
but no place suitable could be found that was available, 
and the Sunday services were postponed. There was an 
expectation that some place would be obtained, but the 
desire for services was so great that the Hawthorne Rooms 
were again secured. A record of this period reads, "It 
should be here stated that from the first of September to 
our opening, crowds had besieged the doors at the Haw- 
thorne Rooms, Sunday after Sunday." On October 18, 
1885, the rooms were opened and a large congregation 
was present. It was then concluded to engage Chickering 
HaU on Tremont Street. In the previous consideration 
of places for meeting it had been decided that this hall 
was too large, as it seated four hundred and sixty-four. 
The first Sunday ser\dce held in Chickering Hall was on 
October 25, 1885. Mrs. Eddy preached at this ser\'ice 



THE ANNUAL MEETING, 1906 55 

and the hall was crowded. This date is memorable as 
the one upon which the Sunday School was formed. 

Meanwhile it was felt that the church needed a place of 
its own, and efforts were made to obtain by purchase some 
building, or church, in a suitable location. Several places 
were considered, but were not satisfactory; yet the 
thought of obtaining a church edifice, although given up 
for a time, was not forgotten. In the mean time, not 
only was the attendance rapidly growing in this church in 
Chickering Hall, but the Cause itself was spreading over 
the land. September 1, 1892, Mrs. Eddy gave the plot of 
ground on which The Mother Church now stands. On 
the twenty-third day of September, 1892, twelve of the 
members of the church met, and, upon Mrs. Eddy's 
counsel, reorganized the church, and named it The First 
Church of Christ, Scientist. This effort of Mrs. Eddy 
was an inspiration to Christian Scientists, and plans were 
made for a church home. 

In the mean time Sunday services were held in Chicker- 
ing Hall, and continued there until March, 1894, and 
during the last year the hall was crowded to overflowing. 
In March, however, the church was obliged to seek other 
quarters, as Chickering Hall was to be remodelled. At this 
time the church removed to Copley Hall on Clarendon 
Street, which had a seating capacity of six hundred and 
twenty-five, and in that place Sunday services were held 
until The Mother Church edifice was ready for occupancy, 
December 30, 1894. During the months that the con- 
gregation worshipped in Copley Hall there was a steady 
increase in attendance. 

Twelve years ago the twenty-first of last month, the 
corner-stone of The Mother Church edifice was laid, and 



56 THE FIRST CHURCH OF CHRIST, SCIENTIST 

at that time it was thought the seating capacity would be 
adequate for years to come. Attendance at the Sunday 
service gradually increased, until every seat was filled and 
many stood in the aisles, and in consequence two services 
were held, morning and afternoon, the latter a repetition 
of the morning service. The date of the inauguration of 
two Sunday services was April 26, 1896. It was soon 
evident that even this provision was inadequate to meet 
the need, and it was found necessary to organize branch 
churches in such suburbs of Boston as would relieve 
the overcrowded condition of The Mother Church; there- 
fore three branch churches were organized, one in each of 
the following named places: Cambridge, Chelsea, and 
Roxbury. 

For a while it seemed that there would be ample room 
for growth of attendance in The Mother Church, but not- 
withstanding the relief that the organization of branch 
churches had given, the number of attendants increased 
faster than ever. From the time that the three foregoing 
named churches were established, the membership and the 
attendance at them and at The Mother Church steadily 
grew, and more branch churches were established in other 
suburbs, members of which had formerly been attendants 
at The Mother Church. In the spring of 1905 the over- 
crowded condition of the morning service showed that 
still further provision must be made, as many were obliged 
to leave the church for the reason that there was not even 
standing-room. Therefore, beginning October 1, 1905, 
three services were held each Sunday, the second and 
third being repetitions of the first service. 

This continued growth, this continued overcrowding, 
proved the need of a larger edifice. Our communion ser- 



THE ANNUAL MEETING, 1906 57 

vices and annual meetings were overcrowded in The 
Mother Church, they were overcrowded in Tremont 
Temple, in Symphony Hall, and in the Mechanics Build- 
ing, and the need was felt of an auditorium that would 
be of great seating capacity, and one that would have the 
sacred atmosphere of a church home. 

In Mrs. Eddy's Message to the church in 1902 she sug- 
gested the need of a larger church edifice, and at the 
annual meeting of the same year the church voted to 
raise any part of two millions of dollars for the purpose of 
building a suitable edifice. The labor of clearing the land 
was begun in October, 1903, and the corner-stone was 
laid July 16, 1904. 

The first annual meeting of the church was held in 
Chickering Hall, October 3, 1893, and the membership 
at that date was 1,545. The membership of this 
church to-day is 40,011. The number of candidates 
admitted June 5 of this year is the largest in the his- 
tory of the church and numbers 4,889, which is 2,194 
more than the hitherto largest admission, that of June, 
1903. The total number admitted during the last 
year is 6,181. The total number of branch churches 
advertised in The Christian Science Journal of this 
June is 682, 614 of which show a membership of 
41,944. The number of societies advertised in the 
Journal is 267. 

Shortly before the dedication of The Mother Church in 
1895, the Boston Evening Transcript said: "Wonders will 
never cease. Here is a church whose Treasurer has sent 
out word that no sums except those already subscribed 
can be received. The Christian Scientists have a faith 
of the mustard-seed variety. What a pity some of our 



58 THE FIRST CHURCH OF CHRIST, SCIENTIST 

practical Christian folk have not a faith approximate to 
that of these impractical Christian Scientists." 

The fact that a notice was published in the Christian 
Science Sentinel of last Saturday that no more funds 
are needed to complete the extension of The Mother 
Church, proves the truth of the axiom, "History re- 
peats itself." These are the evidences of the magnifi- 
cent growth of this Cause, and are sufficient refutation 
of the statements that have been made that "Christian 
Science is dying out." 

The majesty and the dignity of this church edifice not 
only shows the growth of this Cause, but proclaims the 
trust, the willingness of those who have contributed to 
the erection of these mighty walls. 

This magnificent structure, this fitting testimonial in 
stone, speaks more than words can picture of the love and 
gratitude of a great multitude that has been healed and 
purified through the labor and sacrifice of our revered 
Leader and teacher, Mary Baker Eddy, the one through 
whom God has revealed a demonstrable way of salvation. 
May her example inspire us to follow her in preaching, 
"The kingdom of heaven is at hand," by healing the 
sick and reforming the sinful, and, as she has done, ver- 
ifying Jesus' words, "Lo, I am with you alway." 

LETTERS AND EDITORIAL 

Mrs. Mary Baker Eddy, 

Pleasant View, Concord, N. H. 

My Dear Teacher: — Of the many thousands who 
attended the dedicatory services at the Christian Science 
church last Sunday it is doubtful if there was one so deeply 



LETTERS AND EDITORIAL 59 

impressed with the grandeur and magnitude of your work 
as was the writer, whom you will recall as a member of 
your first class in Lynn, Mass., nearly forty years ago. 
When you told us that the truth you expounded was 
the little leaven that should leaven the whole lump, we 
thought this might be true in some far distant day 
beyond our mortal vision. It was above conception 
that in less than forty years a new system of faith and 
worship, as well as of healing, should number its adher- 
ents by the hundreds of thousands and its tenets be 
accepted wholly or in part by nearly every religious and 
scientific body in the civilized world. 

Seated in the gallery of that magnificent temple, which 
has been reared by you, gazing across that sea of heads, 
listening again to your words explaining the Scriptures, 
my mind was carried back to that first public meeting in 
the little hall on Market Street, Lynn, where you preached 
to a handful of people that would scarce fill a couple of 
pews in this grand amphitheatre; and as I heard the sono- 
rous tones of the powerful organ and the mighty chorus of 
five thousand voices, I thought of the little melodeon on 
which my wife played, and of my own feeble attempts 
to lead the singing. 

In years gone by I have been asked, "Did Mrs. Eddy 
really write Science and Health? Some say she did not." 
My answer has invariably been, "Send those who say 
she did not to me. I heard her talk it before it was 
ever written. I read it in manuscript before it was ever 
printed." Now my testimony is not needed. No human 
being in this generation has accomplished such a work or 
been so thoroughly endorsed or so completely vindicated. 
It is marvellous beyond all imagining to one who knew of 



60 THE FIRST CHURCH OF CHRIST, SCIENTIST 

your early struggles. I have been solicited by many of 
your followers to say something about the early history 
of Christian Science. I have replied that if Mrs. Eddy 
thought it wise to instruct them on the subject she would 
doubtless do so. 

Possibly you may remember the words of my uncle, the 
good old deacon of the First Congregational Church of 
Lynn, when told that I had studied with you. " My boy, 
you will be ruined for life; it is the work of the devil.'' 
He only expressed the thought of all the Christian (?) 
people at that time. What a change in the Christian 
world! ^'The stone which the builders rejected" has 
become the corner-stone of this wonderful temple of 
"wisdom. Truth, and Love." (Science and Health, p. 
495.) I have yet the little Bible which you gave me 
as a reward for the best paper on the spiritual sig- 
nificance of the first chapter of Genesis. It has this, 
inscription on the fly-leaf in your handwriting, "With 
all thy getting get understanding." 

Respectfully and faithfully yours, 

S. P. Bancroft. 
Cambridge, Mass., June 12, 1906. 

Mrs. IMary Baker Eddy, 

Pleasant View, Concord, N. H. 

Bear Leader and Guide: — Now that the great event, 
the dedication of our new church building, is over, may 
I ask a little of your time to tell you of the interesting 
part I had to perform in this wonderful consummation. 
On the twenty-fifth of last March I was asked by one 
of the Directors if I would care to do a little watching 



LETTERS AND EDITORIAL 61 

at the church. I gladly answered in the affirmative, and 
have been in the building part of every night since that 
time. To watch the transformation has been very in- 
teresting indeed, and the lessons I have learned of the 
power of divine Mind to remove human obstructions 
have been very precious. At first I thought that, since 
it seemed impossible for the building to be completed 
before the end of summer, the communion would likely 
be postponed until that time. Then came the announce- 
ment that the services would be held in the new exten- 
sion on June 10. I saw at once that somebody had to 
wake up. I fought hard with the evidence of mortal 
sense for a time; but after a while, in the night, as 
I was climbing over stones and planks and plaster, 
I raised my eyes, and the conviction that the work 
would be accomplished came to me so clearly, I said 
aloud, "Why, there is no fear; this house will be ready 
for the service, June 10.^' I bowed my head before 
the might of divine Love, and never more did I have 
any doubt. 

One feature about the work interested me. I noticed 
that as soon as the workmen began to admit that the work 
could be done, everything seemed to move as by magic; 
the human mind was giving its consent. This taught me 
that I should be willing to let God work. I have often 
stood under the great dome, in the dark stillness of the 
night, and thought, "What cannot God do?" (Science 
and Health, p. 135.) 

As I discovered the many intricate problems which must 
necessarily present themselves in such an immense under- 
taking, I appreciated as never before the faithful, earnest 
work of our noble Board of Directors. With unflinching 



62 THE FIRST CHURCH OF CHRIST, SCIENTIST 

faith and unfailing fidelity they have stood at the breast- 
works in the battle, and won the reward, "Well done, 
good and faithful servant; . . . enter thou into the joy 
of thy lord." 

But what of this magnificent structure? ^Mience did it 
come? To me it is the result of the love that trembled 
in one human heart when it whispered : " Dear God, may 
I not take this precious truth and give it to my brothers 
and sisters?" How can we ever thank God enough for 
such an one, — ever thank you enough for your unselfed 
love. iNIay the glory wliich cro^Tis the completion of this 
structure shed its brightest beams on your pathway, and 
fill your heart with the joy of Love's \dctory. 

Your sincere follower, 

James J. Rome. 

Boston, jVIass., Jiine 30, 1906. 

Rev. Mary Baker Eddy, 

Pleasant View, Concord, N. H. 

Beloved Leader and Teacher: — We, the Directors of 
your church, send you loving greetings and congratulations 
upon the completion of the magnificent extension of The 
Mother Church of Christ, Scientist, and we again express 
our thankful appreciation of your wise counsel, timely 
instruction, and words of encouragement when they were 
so much needed. 

We acknowledge with many thanks the valuable services 
rendered to this Board by the members of the business 
committee, who were ever ready to assist us in every way 
possible; also the ser\dces of other members of the church, 
who gave freely of their time and efforts when there was 
m-gent need of both. 



LETTERS AND EDITORIAL 63 

We do not forget that it was through you we were en- 
abled to secure the services of Mr. Whitcomb as builder 
in the early days of the construction of the church, and of 
Mr. Beman in an advisory capacity in the later days; for 
this, and for their valuable services, we are grateful. 
Lovingly and gratefully your students. 

The Christian Science Board of Directors, 
By William B. Johnson, Secretary, 
Boston, Mass., July 10, 1906. 

[Editorial in Christian Science Sentinel, June 23, 1906] 
Our annual communion and the dedication of the exten- 
sion of The Mother Church are over, and this happy and 
holy experience has become a part of our expanding con- 
sciousness of Truth, to abide with us and enable us better 
to work out the purposes of divine Love. It was scarcely 
possible to repress a feeling of exultation as friend met 
friend at every turn with words of rejoicing; and even the 
greetings and congratulations of those not of our faith 
seemed to say that all the world was in some degree sharing 
in our joy. But within our sacred edifice there came a 
deeper feeling, a feeling of awe and of reverence beyond 
words, — a new sense of the magnitude of Christian 
Science, this revelation of divinity which has come to the 
present age. Grandly does our temple symbolize this 
revelation, in its purity, stateliness, and vastness; but 
even more impressive than this was the presence of the 
thousands who had come, as the Master predicted, " from 
the east, and from the west, and from the north, and 
from the south, ^' to tell by their presence that they had 
been healed by Christ, Truth, and had found the kingdom 
of God. 



64 THE FIRST CHURCH OF CHRIST, SCIENTIST 

As one thought upon the significance of the occasion, 
the achievements of our beloved Leader and her relation 
to the experiences of the hour took on a larger and truer 
meaning. The glories of the realm of infinite Mind, 
revealed to us through her spiritual attainments and her 
years of toil, encompassed us, and hearts were thrilled 
with tender gratitude and love for all that she has done. 
If to-day we feel a pardonable pride in being known as 
Christian Scientists, it is because our Leader has made the 
name an honored one before the world. 

In her dedicatory Message to The Mother Church, 
Mrs. Eddy says, " The First Commandment of the Hebrew 
Decalogue, 'Thou shalt have no other gods before me,' 
and the Golden Rule are the all-in-all of Christian Science.'' 
In all her writings, through all the years of her leadership, 
she has been teaching her followers both by precept and 
example how to obey this commandment and rule, and 
her success in so doing is what constitutes the high stand- 
ing of Christian Science before the world. Fearlessly does 
she warn all her followers against the indulgence of the 
sins which would prevent the realization of ideal manhood 
— the reign of the Christ — and now it is om-s to address 
ourselves with renewed faith and love to the high and holy 
task of overcoming all that is unlike God, and thus prove 
our worthiness to be '' living stones" in the universal 
temple of Spirit, and worthy members of The Mother 
Church before men. 



APPENDIX TO PART I 
AS CHRONICLED BY THE NEWSPAPERS 

[Boston Journal, June 19, 1902] 
AN ASTONISHING MOTION 

Assembled in the largest church business meeting ever 
held in Boston — perhaps the largest ever held in the 
United States — the members of The First Church of 
Christ, Scientist, Boston, The Mother Church of the de- 
nomination, voted yesterday afternoon to raise any part 
of two million dollars that might be needed to build 
in this city a church edifice capable of seating between 
four and five thousand persons. This astonishing motion 
was passed with both unanimity and assurance. It was 
not even talked over, beyond two brief explanations why 
the building was needed. Learning that a big church was 
required, the money to provide it was pledged with the 
readiness and despatch of an ordinary mortal passing out 
a nickel for carfare. 

[Boston Globe, April, 1903] 
PROGRESSIVE STEPS 

The last parcel in the block bounded by Falmouth, 
Norway, and St. Paul Streets, in the shape of a triangle, 
has passed to the ownership of the Christian Science 
church, the deed being taken by Ira O. Knapp et ah, 

65 



66 THE FIRST CHURCH OF CHRIST, SCIENTIST 

trustees. The purchase of this parcel, which is known as 
the Hotel Brookline, a four-story brick building also in the 
shape of a triangle, gives to the above society the ownership 
of the entire block. 

During the past two weeks considerable activity has 
been going on in property on these streets, no less than 
ten estates having been conveyed by deed to the Christian 
Science church, and now comes the purchase of the last 
parcel on St. Paul Street by the above society, which 
gives them the ownership of the entire block. 

Just what use the society will make of the property 
has not been stated, but it is said that a number of changes 
will be made that will enable the church to expand, and 
to do so it was necessary to have this property. No block 
is so well situated for church purposes as this one, being 
in a fine part of the city. 

[Boston Post, June 6, 1906] 
THE FINISHING TOUCHES 

Artisans and artists are working night and day and 
craftsmen are hurrying on with their work to make the 
spacious and elegant edifice complete for the elaborate 
observances of Sunday, when six services will be held, 
and when the words of Mary Baker Eddy will come from 
her beautiful home. Pleasant View, in Concord, N. H., 
welcoming her children and giving her blessing to the 
structure. 

The services of Sunday will mark an epoch in the history 
of Christian Science. Since the discovery by Mrs. Eddy, 
many beautiful houses of worship have been erected, but 
never before has such a grand church been built as that 



AS CHRONICLED BY THE NEWSPAPERS 67 

which raises its dome above the city at the corner of 
Falmouth and Norway Streets. 

[Boston Post] 
DESCRIPTION OF THE EXTENSION 

Extension of The Mother Church 

Cost $2,000,000 

Shape, triangular 220x220x236 ft. 

Height 224 ft. 

Area of site 40,000 sq. ft. 

Seating capacity 5,000 

Checking facilities 3,000 garments 

Notable Dates in Christian Science 

Christian Science discovered 1866 

First church organized 1879 

First church erected 1894 

Corner-stone of cathedral laid 1904 

Cathedral to be dedicated 1906 

Two million dollars was set aside for the building of this 
addition to The First Church of Christ, Scientist, and the 
money was used in giving Boston an edifice that is a 
marvel of architectural beauty. But one church in the 
country exceeds it in seating capacity, and, while vaster 
sums of money were spent in other instances, never was 
a more artistic effect reached. 

This new temple, begun nearly two years ago, will in 
its simple grandeur surpass any church edifice erected 
in this city. Notwithstanding its enormous size, it is so 
proportionately built that its massiveness is unnoticed 
in the graceful outlines. 



68 THE FIRST CHURCH OF CHRIST, SCIENTIST 

Built in the Italian Renaissance style, the interior of 
this church is carried out with the end in view of impressing 
the audiences with the beauty and strength of the design. 
The great auditorium, with its high-domed ceiling, sup- 
ported on four arches springing from the tops of great 
stone piers, contains about one mile and a half of pews. 

The dome surmounting the building is more than twice 
the size of the dome on the State House, having a diameter 
of eighty-two feet and a height of fifty-one feet. 

The top of the dome is two hundred and twenty-four feet 
above the street, and reaches an altitude twenty-nine feet 
higher than that of the State House. 

The old church at the corner of Falmouth and Norway 
Streets, with a seating capacity of twelve hundred, built 
twelve years ago, will remain as it was, and Mrs. Eddy's 
famous room will be undisturbed. 

The Readers' platform is of a beautiful foreign marble, 
and the color scheme for all the auditorium is of a warm 
gray, to harmonize with the Bedford stone which enters 
so largely into the interior finish. 

The great organ is placed back of the Readers' platform 
and above the Readers' special rooms. It has an archi- 
tectural stone screen and contributes , not a little to the 
imposing effect of the interior. 

Bedford stone and marble form the interior finish, with 
elaborate plaster work for the great arches and ceilings. 
The floors of the first story are of marble. 

There are twelve exits and seven broad marble stair- 
ways, the latter framed of iron and finished with bronze, 
marble, and Bedford stone. 

Bronze is used in the lighting fixtures, and the pews and 
principal woodwork are of mahogany. 



AS CHRONICLED BY THE NEWSPAPERS 69 

The churcli is unusually well lighted, and one of the 
extraordinary features is the eight bronze chains, each 
suspending seventy-two lamps, each lamp of thirty-two 
candle-power. 

Where ceiling or roof and side walls come together no 
sharp angles are visible, such meetings presenting an oval 
and dome appearance and forming a gently curved and 
panelled surface, whereon are placed inscriptions illustra- 
tive of the faith of Christian Science. 

Two large marble plates with Scripture quotations are 
also placed on the two sides of the organ. 

Everywhere within the building where conditions per- 
mitted it pure white marble was used, and the hammer 
and chisel of the sculptor added magnificent carvings to 
the rich beauty of the interior. 

The auditorium contains seven galleries, two on either 
side and three at the back, yet not a single pillar or post 
anywhere in the vast space interrupts the view of the 
platform from any seat. 

Another unusual feature is the foyer, where five thousand 
people can freely move. Adjoining this foyer are the 
Sunday School and the administration ofiices, while in 
the basement is a cloak-room of the capacity of three 
thousand wraps. 

[Boston Globe] 

AN IDEA OF THE SIZE 

If one would get an idea of the size of this building and 
the manner in which the dome seems to dominate the 
entire city, the best point of view is on top of the tower 
in Mt. Auburn cemetery in Cambridge, some four miles 
away. From this point the building and dome can be seen 



70 THE FIRST CHURCH OF CHRIST, SCIENTIST 

in their relation to the city itself, and it certainly looks 
imposing. 

One thing is certain: for a religion which has been 
organized only thirty years, and which erected its first 
church only twelve years ago. Christian Science has more 
fine church edifices to its credit in the same time than 
any other denomination in the world, and they are all 
paid for. 

[Boston Evening Transcript] 

THE CHIMES 

The chimes for the new Christian Science temple are 
worthy of the dome. The effect on all within earshot is 
quite remarkable. They say that workingmen stopped 
in the street and stood in silent admiration while the 
chimes were being tested the other day. Millet's 
"Angelus" had living reproductions on every corner in 
the neighborhood. 

[Boston Post] 

MAGNIFICENCE OF THE OKGAN 

The new church is replete with rare bits of art, chosen 
from the works of both ancient and modern masters, but 
there is nothing more wonderful than the organ which 
has been installed. Nowhere in the world is there a more 
beautiful, more musical, or more capable instrument. 
In reality it is a combination of six organs, with four 
manuals, seventy-two stops, nineteen couplers, nineteen 
adjustable combination pistons, three balanced swells, 
a grand crescendo pedal, seven combination pedals, and 
forty-five hundred and thirty-eight pipes, the largest of 
which is thirty-two feet long. Attached to the organ is 



AS CHRONICLED BY THE NEWSPAPERS 71 

a set of cathedral chimes, stationed in one of the towers, 
and some of the most intricate discoveries of organ 
builders enable the organist to produce the most beautiful 
effects by means of the bells. There is also a solo organ 
attached. 

[Boston Journal] 

ITS ARCHITECTURE 

There is no need of fussing about the underlying spirit 
that built the Christian Science cathedral. We can all 
agree that it is a stunning piece of architecture and a 
great adornment to the city. 

[Boston Globe] 
UNIQUE INTERIOR 

When these people enter this new cathedral or temple 
which has been in process of construction, they will find 
themselves in one of the most imposing church edifices 
in the country — yes, in the world. For in its interior 
architecture it is different from any other church in the 
world. In fact, nearly all the traditions of church interior 
architecture have been set aside in this temple, for here 
are neither nave, aisles, nor transept — just one vast audi- 
torium which will seat exactly five thousand and twelve 
people on floor and galleries, and seat them comfort- 
ably. And what is more, every person seated in the 
auditorium, either on floor or galleries, can see and hear 
the two Readers who conduct the services on the platform 
in front of the great organ. 

This was the aim and object of the architect: to con- 
struct an auditorium that would seat five thousand people, 
each of whom could see the Readers, and with such nicely 



72 THE FIRST CHURCH OF CHRIST, SCIENTIST 

adjusted acoustic properties that each person could hear 
what was said. To do this it was necessary to set aside 
the traditions of interior church architecture. 

[Boston Post] 
GATES OF BOSTON OPEN 

The gates of Boston are open wide in welcome to 
nobility. Never before has the city been more fre- 
quented by members of the titled aristocracy of the 
old world than it is now. From all the centres of Europe 
there are streaming into town lords and ladies who 
come to attend the dedication of the new church for 
Christian Scientists. 

[Boston Olobe] 
CHRISTIAN SCIENTISTS HAVE ALL THE MONEY NEEDED 

" Please do not send us any more money — we have 
enough!" 

Briefly that is the notice which Stephen A. Chase, 
treasurer of the building fund of the new Christian Sci- 
ence temple, sent forth to the thirty thousand or more 
Christian Scientists who have come to Boston to attend 
the dedication exercises, and also through the Chris- 
tian Science Sentinel to members of the church all over 
the world. 

This means that nearly two million dollars has 
been subscribed for the new building, and that every 
cent of it was paid in before the work was actually 
completed. 

That is the way the Christian Scientists began when 
they erected the first church in Boston twelve years ago 



AS CHRONICLED BY THE NEWSPAPERS 73 

— The Mother Church. Then it was found necessary 
to issue a similar notice or order, and even to return 
more than ten thousand dollars which had been over- 
subscribed. They have erected dozens of churches all 
over this country and in other countries since that time, 
but it is claimed that very few of them owe a cent. 

If you ask a Christian Scientist how they do it, the 
reply will be in the form of a quotation from Science 
and Health (p. 494), "Divine Love always has met and 
always will meet every human need." 

[Boston Globe] 
. THE GREAT GATHERING 

Christian Scientists are flocking from all over the 
world to Boston to-day, as they have been for several 
days past and will be for several days to come, to attend 
the June meetings of The Mother Church and the dedica- 
tion of the new temple. 

The headquarters was thrown open to visitors this 
forenoon in Horticultural Hall, corner of Huntington 
and Massachusetts Avenues. It is in charge of G. D. 
Robertson, and here the visitors will receive all information 
concerning rooms and board, hotels, railroads, etc. There 
is here also a post-office to which all mail may be directed, 
and telegraph and telephone service. 

[Boston Evening Transcript] 
SPECIAL TRAINS COMING 

Special trains and extra sections of trains are due to 
arrive in Boston to-night, bearing the first instalments of 
the crowds of Christian Scientists from the central and 



74 THE FIRST CHURCH OF CHRIST, SCIENTIST 

western sections of this country. Those from abroad 
and from the far West to a large degree are already in 
Boston. From now until Saturday night the inrush will 
be from the sections within two or three days' ride, and 
no doubt the night trains of Saturday will bring con- 
siderable numbers of belated church members from New 
York and elsewhere who will arrive in this city just about 
in time for the first Sunday service. 

[Boston Evening Transcript] 
INTERESTING AND AGREEABLE VISITORS 

The Christian Scientists are here in force, and they are 
very interesting and agreeable visitors, even to those who 
are unable to accompany them in their triumph of mind 
over matter. Boston is indebted to them for one of the 
finest architectural achievements in this or any other city, 
and other denominations might profit by their example of 
paying for their church before dedicating it. It is a monu- 
ment to the sincerity of their faith; and the pride and 
satisfaction that is not only evident from their addresses 
but reflected in their faces, is justifiable. They are an 
intelligent and a happy appearing body, and even if those 
outside are unable to believe that they have escaped from 
the bondage of the material world, it would be idle to 
attempt to deny them the satisfaction that springs from 
a belief in such emancipation. Our present relations with 
them are as the guests of the city, and as such they are 
welcome. 

Within two weeks we have had here the representatives 
of the two poles of healing, the material and the mental, 
and each is interesting, one for its hopefulness and the 
other for its novelty. Whatever opinions we may enter- 



AS CHRONICLED BY THE NEWSPAPERS 75 

tain of the value of the latter, we cannot well withhold 
our respectful acknowledgment of its enthusiasm, its 
energy, and its faith in its fundamentals. Its votaries 
are certainly holding the centre of the stage this week. 

[Boston Globe] 
READILY ACCOMMODATED 

Yesterday was a busy day at the headquarters of the 
Christian Scientists in Horticultural Hall. They poured 
into the city from every direction and most of them 
headed straight for Horticultural Hall, where they were 
assigned rooms in hotels or lodging-houses, if they had 
not already been provided for. So perfect have been all 
the preliminary arrangements for the handling of a great 
number of visitors that there has not been the slightest 
hitch in the matter of securing accommodations. And 
if there was it would not make much difference, for these 
people would take it all very good-naturedly. They 
do not get excited over trifles. They are very patient and 
good-natured. Crowded as the hall was yesterday, and 
warm as the day was, there was not the slightest evidence 
of temper, no matter how far they had travelled or what 
discomforts they might have endured in their travels. 

[Boston Evening Transcript] 
BIG CHURCH IS PAID FOR 

According to the custom of the Christian Scientists, the 
big addition to The Mother Church will be dedicated 
to-morrow free from debt. No church has ever yet been 
dedicated by this denomination with any part of the 
expense of its construction remaining unprovided for, and 



76 THE FIRST CHURCH OF CHRIST, SCIENTIST 

it went "v\dthout saying that the same practice would be 
followed with this new two-milhon-dollar edifice, the 
largest of them all. Up to within ten days the notices 
that more money was needed had been in circulation, 
and new contributions were constantly being received; 
but on June 2 it became evident to the Board of Direct- 
ors that enough money was on hand to provide for the 
entire cost of the building, and the formal announcement 
was made that no more contributions to the building fund 
were needed. That it was received with rejoicing by the 
thousands of church members and their friends only feebly 
expresses the gratification. 

A similar decision was reached and published at the 
time of the dedication of The Mother Church in 1895, all 
of which goes to show the earnestness and loyalty which 
Christian Scientists manifest in the support of their 
church work, and which enables them to dedicate their 
churches free of debt without exception. The estimated 
cost of the extension of The iNIother Church was pledged 
by the members assembled in their annual church meeting 
in Boston, in 1902, and all contributions have been 
voluntary. 

[New York Herald] 

GIANT TEMPLE FOR SCIENTISTS 

There will be dedicated in Boston to-morrow the 
first great monument to Christian Science, the new two- 
million-dollar cathedral erected by the devotees of a 
religion which twenty-seven years ago was founded in 
Boston by Mrs. INIary Baker Eddy with a membership 
of twenty-six persons. 

The new structure, which is now completed, has for 



AS CHRONICLED BY THE NEWSPAPERS 77 

months been the cynosure of all eyes because of its great 
size, beautiful architecture, and the novelty of the cult 
which it represents. This temple is one of the largest in 
the world. It has a seating capacity of over five thousand. 
In this respect it leads the Auditorium of Chicago. Be- 
side it the dome of the Massachusetts State House, which 
is the leading landmark of Boston, pales into insignificance, 
as its dimensions are only half as great. 

From all over the world Christian Scientists are rapidly 
gathering in this city to participate in the most notable 
feature in the life of their cult. From beyond the Rockies, 
from Canada, from Great Britain, and practically every 
civilized country, daily trainloads of pilgrims are pouring 
into Boston, and it is estimated that not less than twenty- 
five thousand visitors will participate in the dedication. 

[New York World] 
DEDICATION DAY 

Over the heads of a multitude which began to gather at 
daybreak and which filled the streets leading to the mag- 
nificent temple of the Christian Science church, there 
pealed from the chimes a first hymn of thanksgiving at 
six o'clock this morning. It was dedication day, and 
Christian Scientists from all quarters of the globe were 
present to participate in the occasion. 

It was estimated that nearly forty thousand believers 
had gathered in Boston. Word was conveyed to them that 
the temple would open its doors absolutely free of debt, 
every penny of the two million dollars required to build 
the imposing edifice in the Back Bay district having 
been secured by voluntary subscription. 



78 THE FIRST CHURCH OF CHRIST, SCIENTIST 

The seating capacity of the temple is five thousand, 
and in order that all might participate in the dedication, 
six services, identical in character, were held during the 
morning, afternoon, and evening. 

The worshippers saw an imposing structure of gray- 
stone "^'ith a massive dome rising to a height of two 
hundred and twenty-four feet and visible from every 
quarter of the city. The multitude passed through the 
twelve entrances beneath a series of arches in the sev- 
eral fa9ades. They looked upon an interior done in soft 
gray with decorative carvings peculiarly rich and im- 
pressive. The seating is accomplished in a semi-circular 
sweep of mahogany pews and in triple galleries. 

The offertory taken at the beginning of the services 
found every basket piled high T^dth bank-notes, everybody 
contributing, and none proffering small change. 

At the close of the Lesson-Sermon, and in accordance 
with the custom of the Christian Science church, the 
entire congregation knelt in silent communion, followed 
by the audible repetition of the Lord's Prayer. One of 
the remarkable features of the services was the congre- 
gation singing in perfect unison. The acoustic properties 
of the temple, in spite of its vast interior, were found to 
be perfect. 

[Boston Globe] 

children's service 

No mere words can convey the peculiar impressiveness 
of the half past twelve service; the little children, awed by 
the grandeur of the great room in which they were seated, 
drinking in every word of the exercises and apparently 
understanding all they heard, joining with their shrill 



AS CHRONICLED BY THE NEWSPAPERS 79 

voices in the singing and responsive reading, and then, at 
the last, kneehng for silent communion before the pews, in 
absolute stillness, their eyes closed and their solemn little 
faces turned upward. 

[Norfolk (Neb.) Tribune] 
ON A FAR HIGHER PEDESTAL 

To those who seem to see no good in Christian Science, 
it must stagger their faith not a little to read the account 
of the dedication of the vast temple located in the heart 
of the city of Boston, the supposed fountain of knowledge 
and seat of learning of America; the spectacle of thirty 
thousand people assembling to gain admission to the 
temple shows an enthusiasm for Christian Science seldom 
witnessed anywhere in the world on any occasion; and 
this occurred in staid old Boston, and the fact was heralded 
in flaming headlines in the leading newspapers of the 
world. According to the despatches, that assembly was 
not a gathering of "the vulgar throng; '^ the intelligence 
and wisdom of the country were there. There certainly 
must be something more than a fad in Christian Science, 
which was placed upon a far higher pedestal by that 
demonstration than it ever occupied before. 

[Boston Herald] 
THE WEDNESDAY EVENING MEETINGS 

Quietly, without a trace of fanaticism, making their 
remarkable statements with a simplicity which sprang 
from the conviction that they would be believed, scores of 
Christian Scientists told of cures from diseases, physical 
and mental, at the testimony meetings that marked the 



80 THE FIRST CHURCH OF CHRIST, SCIENTIST 

close of their visit to Boston; cures that carried one back 
to the age of miracles. To hear prosperous, contented 
men and women, people of substance and of standing, 
earnestly assure thousands of auditors that they had been 
cured of blindness, of consumption in its advanced stages, 
of heart disease, of cancer; that they had felt no pain 
when having broken bones set; that when wasted unto 
death they had been made whole, constituted a severe tax 
upon frail human credulity, yet they were believed. 

Meetings were held in the extension of The Mother 
Church, in the extension vestry, in the old auditorium 
of The Mother Church, in The- Mother Church vestry, 
Horticultural Hall (Exhibition Hall), Horticultural Hall 
(Lecture Hall), Jordan Hall, Potter Hall, Howe and 
Woolson Halls, Chickering Hall. 

At each of the meetings the introductory services were 
identical, consisting of hymns, an appropriate reading 
from the Bible, and selections from "Science and Health 
with Key to the Scriptures" by Mrs. Mary Baker 
Eddy. 

Fifteen thousand Scientists crowded into the auditorium 
of the extension of The Mother Church, into the old 
church, into Horticultural Hall, Jordan Hall, Potter Hall, 
Woolson Hall, and Chickering Hall, and it took ten 
meetings to accommodate the great throngs who wanted 
to give testimony or who wanted to hear it. And when 
these places had all been filled, there were many hundreds 
waiting vainly in the streets. A few were upon the scene 
as early as three o'clock in the afternoon to secure seats 
in the main body of the church, where the largest meeting 
was held, and long before seven the auditorium was com- 
fortably filled. 



AS CHRONICLED BY THE NEWSPAPERS 81 

Upon entering The Mother Church one was immediately 
struck with the air of well-being and of prosperity of the 
great congregation. The Scientists fairly radiate good 
nature and healthy satisfaction with life. No pessimistic 
faces there ! So ingrained is this good nature, so complete 
this self-abnegation, that at the very height of fervor, when 
bursting with a desire to testify to the benefits and the 
healing power of the faith, one of them would pause and 
laughingly give precedence to another who had been the 
first to catch the Reader's eye. 

When Mr. McCrackan announced at the main meet- 
ing that they were ready to receive testimony, up 
leaped half a dozen Scientists. They had been told to 
name, before beginning, the places where they lived. 
"Indianapolis!" "Des Moines!" "Glasgow!" "Cuba!" 
"Dresden!" "Peoria!" they cried. No more cosmo- 
politan audience ever sat in Boston. 

Those who poured out their debts of gratitude for ills 
cured, for hearts lifted up, spoke simply and gratefully, 
but occasionally the voices would ring out in a way there 
was no mistaking. In those people was the depth of 
sincerity, and, when they sang, the volume of holy song 
rose tingling to the great dome, swelling as one voice. 
It was a practical demonstration of the Scientist claims, 
a fitting close to a memorable week. 

If an attempt were made to give any account of the 
marvellous cures narrated at the meetings of the Scien- 
tists, or wherever two or more of them are met together, 
it would be impossible to convey a conception of the 
fervor of belief with which each tells his or her experi- 
ence. These are tales of people of standing and of 
substance, professional men, hard-headed shrewd busi- 



82 THE FIRST CHURCH OF CHRIST, SCIENTIST 

ness men. Yet they all have the same stories of their 
conversion, either through a cure to themselves or to 
one near and dear to them. 



[Boston Herald] 
EXODUS BEGINS 

For a while this morning it looked as though all the 
Christian Scientists who have been crowding Boston 
the last week were trying to get away at the same 
time. Hotels, boarding-houses, and private houses 
were disgorging trunks and smaller articles of baggage 
so fast that it was a matter of wonder where there 
could be secured express wagons enough to accommo- 
date the demand. 

At the dedicatory services of The Mother Church 
extension on Sunday, and at the sessions of the annual 
meeting, Tuesday, it was the pride of the Church Direct- 
ors that the edifice was emptied of its crowds in some- 
thing like ten minutes. It would seem that this ability 
to get away when the entertainment is over is a dis- 
tinguishing characteristic of Christian Scientists, for at 
noon to-day [June 14] the indications were that Boston 
would be emptied of its twenty thousand and more vis- 
itors by midnight to-night. 

Transportation facilities at the two stations were taxed 
to the utmost from early morning, and trains pulled out 
of the city in double sections. 

Although the Scientists came to Boston in such numbers 
and are departing with such remarkable expedition, their 
going will not be noticeable to the residents of Boston, 
except perhaps those living in the streets leading directly 



AS CHRONICLED BY THE NEWSPAPERS 83 

to Horticultural Hall. This fact will be due to the 
custom Christian Scientists have of never going about 
labelled. Ordinarily the holding of a great convention 
is patent to every one residing in the convention city. 
Up at Horticultural Hall the one hundred and fifty 
members of the local arrangement committee wore tiny 
white, unmarked buttons, for their own self -identification, 
otherwise there has been no flaunting of badges or 
insignia of any kind. Christian Scientists frequently 
wear a small pin, but this is usually hidden away in 
the laces of the women's frocks, and the men go 
entirely unadorned. 

Therefore, with the exception of the street-car men 
and policemen, who will doubtless have fewer questions 
as to locality to answer, and the hotel and restaurant 
keepers, who will have time to rest and sleep, the pub- 
lic at large will scarcely realize that the Scientists have 
gone. 

WHAT THE BOSTON EDITORS SAID 
[Boston Daily Advertiser] 

The meeting of the Christian Scientists in this city 
naturally takes on a tone of deserved satisfaction, in view 
of the announcement, which has just been made, that the 
two million dollars needed for the construction of the new 
temple has been raised even before the building itself has 
been completed. 

The thirty thousand visitors have other evidences of 
the strength and growth of their organization, which has 
made steady gains in recent years. But of this particu- 
lar example of the readiness of the members to bear 
each his or her share of the necessary expense of church 



84 THE FIRST CHURCH OF CHRIST, SCIENTIST 

work, the facts speak more plainly than mere assertion 
could. Nothing is more of a drag on a church than a 
heavy debt, the interest on which calls for practically all 
the resources of the institution. Many a clergyman can 
testify from his own experience how a "church debt'' 
cramps and retards and holds back work that would 
otherwise be done. It is a rule in some denominations 
that a church edifice may not be formally dedicated until 
it be wholly free from debt. And the experience of many 
generations has affirmed its wisdom. 

[Boston Herald] 

Boston is the Mecca for Christian Scientists all over the 
world. The new temple is something to be proud of. Its 
stately cupola is a fitting crown for the other architec- 
tural efforts in that section of the Back Bay. 

[Boston Evening Record] 

Boston is near to another great demonstration of the 
growth of the Christian Science idea in numbers, wealth, 
vigor, and faithful adherence. It is a remarkable story 
which the gathering here tells. Its very magnitude and 
the cheerful optimism and energy of its followers im- 
press even the man who cannot reconcile himself to 
the methods and tenets of the sect. Its hold and 
development are most notable. 

[Boston Post] 

The gathering of Christian Scientists for the dedication 
of the beautiful structure on Falmouth Street, which is 
to take place on Sunday, is notable in many ways. It 



AS CHRONICLED BY THE NEWSPAPERS 85 

is remarkable in the character of the assembling mem- 
bership, in its widely international range, and in the 
significance of the occasion. 

The growth of this cult is the marvel of the age. Thirty 
years ago it was comparatively unknown; one church 
and a mere handful of members measured its vogue. 
To-day its adherents number probably a million, its 
churches have risen by hundreds, and its congregations 
meet in Europe and in the antipodes, as from the Atlantic 
to the Pacific on this continent. 

One does not need to accept the doctrines of Mrs. 
Eddy to recognize the fact that this wonderful woman 
is a world power. This is conclusive; it is conspicu- 
ously manifest. And here in Boston the zeal and 
enthusiasm of the followers of this creed have been 
manifested in the building of a church structure which 
will hold place among the architectural beauties of the 
country. 

[Boston Herald] 

Another glory for Boston, another "landmark" set 
in the illustrious list for future generations to reverence 
and admire! The Science church has become the great 
centre of attraction, not merely for its thousands of wor- 
shippers, but for a multitude of strangers to whom this 
historic city is the Mecca of their love and duty. Last 
Sunday it was entirely credible that the spirit of faith 
and brotherhood rested on this structure, which is abso- 
lutely unique in its symmetrical and appropriate design. 
Aside from every other consideration, this church, with 
its noble dome of pure gray tint, forming one of the 
few perfect sky-lines in an American city, is doubly 



86 THE FIRST CHURCH OF CHRIST, SCIENTIST 

welcomed. Henceforth the greeting of admiring eyes, 
too often unaccustomed to fine architectural effects, will 
be constant and sincere. 

As Boston has ever loved its golden State House 
dome, so will it now find pleasure in this new symbol, 
brooding elevation, guarding as it were, embracing as it 
may be, the hosts of a new religion. 

[Boston Globe] 

Thousands of Christian Scientists have been pouring 
into Boston in the past few days to be present at the 
dedication yesterday of their new two-million-dollar 
church, and to take part in the subsequent ceremonies and 
exercises. Not only was every cent of the estimated cost 
contributed before the actual work was completed, but 
the treasurer of the building fund of the great temple 
appealed to his brethren to give no more money, since he 
had enough. This must be regarded as an extraordinary 
achievement, and one which indicates plainly enough the 
generosity of the devotion that the Christian Scientists 
maintain towards their church. 

[Boston Post] 

The dedication of the edifice of the Christian Scientists 
on the Back Bay has proved one of the most interest- 
ing and in some of its aspects the most notable of such 
occasions. 

The attendance at the ceremonies yesterday was re- 
markable, probably unprecedented, as regards numbers. 
Not even the great size of the auditorium could accom- 
modate the throng of participants. At each of the iden- 
tical services, repeated at intervals from early morning 



AS CHRONICLED BY THE NEWSPAPERS 87 

until the evening, the attendance was greater than the 
building could contain. x\nd the transportation facihties 
of the town have been strained to their utmost to care 
for the multitudes going and coming. 

The temporary increase of the population of Boston has 
been apparent to the most casual observer. And so, we 
think, must be the characteristics of this crowd of visitors. 
It is a pleasant, congenial, quietly happy, well-to-do, 
intellectual, and cheerfully contented multitude that has 
invaded the town. There are among them visitors of 
title and distinction, but one does not notice these unless 
they are pointed out. The impression created is that of 
a great gathering of people we like to know and like to 
have here. 

We congratulate these comfortable acquaintances upon 
the fact that they have their costly church fully paid for, 
and we feel that Boston is to be congratulated upon the 
acquisition of an edifice so handsome architecturally. 

[Boston Herald] 

I do not think I have ever seen more cheerful looking 
groups of people than I have met in Boston during the 
past few days. Their happy faces would make sunshine 
on the grayest day. If Christian Science gives such 
serene, beautiful expressions, it would not be a bad thing 
if all the world turned to the new religion. There is one 
thing about it: it is certainly imbued with the spirit of 
unselfishness and helpfulness, and, whatever one's special 
creed may be, there is nothing antagonistic to it in this 
doctrine of health, happiness, and in the cheerful doing 
of good. 



88 THE FIRST CHURCH OF CHRIST, SCIENTIST 

GENERAL EDITORIAL OPINION 

[Montreal (Can.) Gazette] 

Twenty thousand Christian Scientists have assembled 
at Boston to attend the opening of their great new 
temple. Christian Science, as now before this conti- 
nent, is the development of a short lifetime. It shows 
strength in all parts, and among classes above the aver- 
age in intelligence. 

[Concord (N. H.) Monitor] 

The dedication, Sunday, in Boston, of the new Mother 
Church of the Christian Science faith was a ceremonial of 
far more than usual ecclesiastic significance. The edifice 
itself is so rich in the architectural symbolisms of aspira- 
tion and faith, its proportions are so large, and its accom- 
modations are so wide, that its dedication abounds in 
remarkable external manifestations which must arrest 
public attention. But externals constitute the smallest 
feature of the Christian Science faith, and this beau- 
tiful temple, striking as are its beauties, is only a slight 
and material development in evidence of that beauty and 
serenity of faith, life, and love which finds its temple in 
the heart of all that increasing host who have found the 
truths of Christian Science to be a marvellous revelation 
given to this generation by a noble and devoted woman, 
to whom they rightfully turn with respect and affection. 

[Brooklyn (N. Y.) Eagle] 

The stoutest enemies of Christian Science will confess 
at least an aesthetic debt to that great and growing cult, 
which is implied in the building of a great church in Bos- 



AS CHRONICLED BY THE NEWSPAPERS 89 

ton. This church is one of the largest and seemUest in 
America, and in its size, if not in its aspect, it may be 
held to symbolize that faith which is so much a faith 
that all facts inhospitable to it are deemed by its pro- 
fessors not to exist at all. The building is of light stone, 
with a dome over two hundred and twenty feet high, a 
chime of bells, and one of the largest organs in the world. 
The architect has joined lightness and grace to solidity, 
and the edifice needs only an open space about it, such 
as one finds in the English cathedrals, to achieve its 
extreme of beauty. A sect that leaves such a monument 
has not lived in vain. 

A remarkable thing in this building is that, although 
it cost two million dollars, it is not blanketed with debts 
and mortgages. Everything, even to the flagstones in 
front of it, is paid for, and subscriptions are not solic- 
ited. Here is an occasion for joy that marks it as dif- 
ferent from almost all other of the Christian churches, 
where petitions for money are almost as constant as 
petitions for divine mercy. 

[Denver (Col.) News] 

The dedication of the new Mother Church of the 
Christian Scientists in Boston is not a matter of interest 
to that city alone, but to the nation; not to the nation 
alone, but to the world; not to this time alone, but to 
history. 

The growth of this form of religious faith has been one of 
the marvels of the last quarter century. It is, in some 
respects, the greatest religious phenomenon of all histor}^ 
That a woman should found a religious movement of 
international sway; that its followers should number 



90 THE FIRST CHURCH OF CHRIST, SCIENTIST 

many thousands during her Kfetime; that hundreds of 
great buildings should be filled at every meeting Sun- 
days or on week-days with devout worshippers, wooed 
by no eloquence of orator or magnetic ritual, — all these 
things are new, utterly new, in the history of religious 
expression. 

Unaccountable? Hardly so. Whatever else it is, this 
faith is real and is given very real tests. Thousands upon 
thousands believe that it has cured them of diseases many 
and diverse. All the passionate love for life with which 
nature endows the children of men, grips hold of their 
faith and insures fidelity in pain or death for self or dear 
ones. But, while health-seeking is the door to this gospel 
for many, it is not the only source of appeal. A faith 
which teaches that hate is atheism, that discord is poison- 
ous, that gloom is sin, has a mission that can be readily 
grasped by sick or well. 

The world is enormously richer for this reincarnation of 
the old, old gospel of "on earth peace, good will toward 



[Terre Haute (Ind.) Star] 

The dedication of The Mother Church of Christian 
Science at Boston, with its paid-up cost of two million 
dollars and its tremendous outpouring of eager commu- 
nicants from all over the civilized world, is an event of 
impressiveness and momentous significance. The historic 
place of Mrs. Eddy as the Founder of a great denomination 
can no longer be questioned, and the sources of her power 
and following can be readily apprehended. Prominent 
among these is the denomination's peculiar department of 
healing, the efficacy of which to some extent is established 



AS CHRONICLED BY THE NEWSPAPERS 91 

beyond cavil. The immense membership of the body is 
proof positive that it supphes these persons, most of 
whom were already nominal Christians, something they 
did not find in other communions. It affords refutation 
of the notion that spiritual and mystic mediation has 
been drowned out in this so-called commercial age. The 
Christian Scientists set a good example to other denomi- 
nations in requiring their church edifices to be fully paid 
for before they are dedicated. It is to be said for Chris- 
tian Science that no person's spiritual aspirations were 
ever deadened or his moral standards debased through 
its agency. Its communicants are cheerful and shed 
sunshine about them — no insignificant element in true 
Christianity. 

[Lafayette (Ind.) Journal] 

The dedication of a Christian Science temple at Boston 
serves to call attention to one of the most remarkable 
religious movements that this country or any other country 
has ever known. It has not been very many years since 
Christian Science was announced as a discovery of Mary 
Baker Eddy of Concord, N. H. The few thousand persons 
who followed Mrs. Eddy during the first years of her 
preaching were the objects of much ridicule, but despite 
the obstacles put in the way the church has continued to 
grow. Its growth in numbers is remarkable, but even 
stranger is its increase in wealth. The temple which has 
just been dedicated at Boston cost two million dollars, 
and is one of the finest places of worship in the world, 
at least it is the largest in New England. This Mother 
Church is absolutely free from debt. After but a few 
years. Christian Science has congregations in every im- 



92 THE FIRST CHURCH OF CHRIST, SCIENTIST 

portant town and city of the United States. Of course 
the new idea will never have determined its real position 
in the doctrines of the world until it has stood the test of 
time. But its beginning has been impressive, and that 
large numbers of intelligent men and women should be 
converted to it makes it appear that Science cannot 
be brushed aside by ridicule alone. 

[Springfield (Mass.) Republican] 

The prodigious convention of Christian Scientists in 
Boston is a portent worthy of perhaps even more interest 
than it has evoked in that city, where a new temple to 
Isis and Osiris would be hardly more than a day's wonder. 
With the swift growth of the new faith the public has in 
a general way been familiar; it is but a few years ago that 
the astonishing revelation was made that since 1890 its 
following had increased from an insignificant number to 
hundreds of thousands, a rate at which every other sect in 
the country would soon be left behind. But mere statistics 
give a feeble impression in comparison with so huge and 
concrete a demonstration as the dedication of this vast 
temple. The statistics have been ridiculed by the hostile 
as mere guesswork, but one cannot sneer away the two- 
million-dollar stone edifice or the thirty thousand wor- 
shippers who entered its portals Sunday. 

[Rochester (N. Y.) Post Express] 

There are two things to be said in favor of Christian 
Science. Its growth has been wonderfully rapid, and due 
apparently to nothing save the desire in the human heart 
for some such comfort as it promises. Christian Scientists, 



AS CHRONICLED BY THE NEWSPAPERS 93 

as a class, so far as the writer knows them, are happy, 
gentle, and virtuous. They are multiplying without 
efforts at proselytizing; they are in no wise at war with 
society; and they have little of the spirit of bigotry. The 
dedication of their great church in Boston is a material 
evidence of their prosperity; and it may be said that if 
their opinions seem visionary, there is nothing in them 
to attract any class save the moderately well-to-do, the 
intelhgent, and the well-behaved. It has been said 
cynically that a rehgion prospers according to the pledges 
which it holds out to its votaries; and though Christian 
Science promises nothing in the way of gratifying the 
passions or attaining dominion over others, yet it has 
rare lures for weary hearts, — physical health and spiritual 
peace. 

[Topeka (Kan.) Daily Capital] 

Those of us who do not accept the doctrine of Christian 
Science are possibly too prone to approach it in a spirit 
of levity, too often disposed to touch upon it with the 
tongue of facetiousness. Too often we see only its ridic- 
ulous phases, attaching meanwhile no importance to 
the saneness and common sense which underlie many of 
the practices in its name. And many of us have missed 
entirely its tremendous growth and the part it has come 
to play in the economy of our social and religious life. 

To those of us who have overlooked these essentials of 
its hold upon the public, certain statistics brought to light 
by the great meeting of the church now being held in 
Boston will come in the nature of a revelation. In 1890 
the faith had but an insignificant following. To-day its 
adherents number hundreds of thousands, and if the 



94 THE FIRST CHURCH OF CHRIST, SCIENTIST 

growth continues in like proportion through another 
decade every other sect will be left behind in the race for 
numerical supremacy. The figures given out by the 
church itself have been ridiculed by the hostile as mere 
guesswork, but some of the evidence appears in the con- 
crete and cannot be combated. "One cannot sneer away 
the two-million-dollar stone edifice or the thirty thousand 
worshippers who entered its portals Sunday," says the 
Springfield Republican. Neither can we overlook the 
steady, consistent growth of the sect in every commu- 
nity in which it has found a foothold. In the adherence 
of its converts to the faith, and in the absence of dissent 
among them in the interpretation of its tenets, there is 
also much to convince the skeptic. 

[Albany (N. Y.) Knickerbocker] 

The remarkable growth and the apparent permanency 
of Christian Science were noted in the recent dedication in 
Boston of the magnificent new temple of the cult. When 
the doors were opened to the public, the structure was free 
from debt. While the dedicatory services were being 
held at different hours of the day, forty thousand Chris- 
tian Scientists from every State in the Union and from 
many foreign countries were in attendance. 

Although Mrs. Eddy, the Founder of Christian Science, 
was not in attendance, she sent greetings in which she 
declared that the "crowning ultimate" of the church 
" rises to a mental monument, a superstructure high above 
the work of men's hands, even the outcome of their 
hearts, giving to the material a spiritual significance — 
the speed, beauty, and achievements of goodness." 

But a few years ago, men there were who predicted that 



AS CHRONICLED BY THE NEWSPAPERS 95 

Christian Science would soon be included among the cults 
which flourish for a time like a green bay-tree, and are 
then forgotten. Those predictions have not been verified. 
The church which has been built upon the tenets first 
presented by Mrs. Eddy is being constantly strengthened 
by members who represent the intelligence of many 
communities in different parts of the world. 

[Mexican Herald, City of Mexico, Mex.] 

The dedication of the magnificent Christian Science 
church in Boston has brought that cheerful and pros- 
perous body of believers before the press gallery of com- 
mentators. They have built a huge church, which has 
cost them about two million dollars, and it has a dome 
which rivals that of the famous old Massachusetts State 
House. During the great assembly of forty thousand 
Christian Scientists in Boston they were described in the 
newspapers of the Hub as a contented and well-dressed 
body of people. 

The faith of these people is certainly great. They go 
about telling of miracles performed in this twentieth cen- 
tury when "advanced" clergymen of other denominations 
are avowing their disbelief in the miraculous. 

The higher critics and the men of science may think 
they can banish faith in the supernatural, but no religion 
of growth and vitality exists without faith in the things 
unseen. 

[Sandusky (Ohio) Star-Journal] 

It is doubtful if, since the days of the primitive Chris- 
tians, there has been such a wonderful demonstration of 
rehgious faith and enlightened zeal as that exhibited at 



96 THE FIRST CHURCH OF CHRIST, SCIENTIST 

Boston, Sunday, when forty thousand Christian Scientists 
from all parts of the world assembled to participate in 
the dedication of the extension of The Mother Church 
of that denomination. These people were of the highest 
order of intelligence, many of them prominent figures in 
the social and business world, and none of them afflicted 
with the slightest trace of fanaticism. The gathering 
can in no sense, save one, be compared with those of 
Mecca and the Hindu shrines, where fanaticism domi- 
nates everything else. The one point of resemblance is 
that the Christian Scientists are thoroughly in earnest 
and take joy in attesting their faith in the creed of the 
church of their choice. It is a faith based upon rea- 
son, and reached only through intelligent and unbiased 
study and comparison with other creeds. 

A remarkable feature, perhaps the most remarkable, of 
the gathering was the generosity of its adherents towards 
their church. The building they were in Boston to dedi- 
cate cost approximately two million dollars. Members 
were invited to contribute what they could to pay for it. 
The money was sent in such quantities that before the day 
set for the dedication arrived the fund was full to over- 
flowing and the members were asked to quit giving. 

[Peoria (111.) Journal] 

It is the custom to sneer at Christian Science, but it is 
evident that the cult will soon be beyond the sneering 
point. The dedication of what is known as The Mother 
Church extension in Boston, the other day, was attended 
by people from all parts of the United States. And they 
were people of intelligence. 

The fact is that Christian Science just goes a little 



AS CHRONICLED BY THE NEWSPAPERS 97 

beyond what almost every one is inclined to admit. The 
best physicians now admit the power of mind over matter. 
They believe that firm faith on the part of a sick per- 
son, for instance, will go far towards making the patient 
well. These same physicians, however, ridicule the idea 
of a patient getting well without the use of medicine. 
It has yet to be shown that of the sick who abjure 
medicine a larger proportion have died than among 
those who were medically treated. The Journal has 
kept no books on the subject, and is not a Christian 
Scientist, but believes that if the figures could be given 
they might show that the Scientists have a little the 
advantage so far as this goes. 

[Nebraska State Journal, Lincoln, Neb,] 

Zion's Herald, a rather bitter critic of Mrs. Eddy and 
her cult, speaks of "the audacious, stupendous, inex- 
plicable faith of this well-dressed, good-looking, emi- 
nently respectable, evidently wealthy congregation in 
their teacher and her utterances." The opening of the 
new Mother Church of the Christian Science faith 
at Boston has opened the eyes of the country anew to 
the growth of the new church and the zeal of its 
membership. 

[Atkol (Mass.) Transcript] 

The Christian Scientists who descended upon Boston 
to the number of forty thousand last week to dedicate the 
new temple, just built at a cost of two million dollars, have 
mostly departed, but Boston has not yet recovered from 
the effects produced by that stupendous gathering. The 
incidents witnessed during the week were calculated to 



98 THE FIRST CHURCH OF CHRIST, SCIENTIST 

impress the most determined skeptic. Forty thousand 
people truly make up a mighty host, but these, it is de- 
clared, are but a twentieth of the Christian Science army 
in this country to-day, and this is the wonderful growth 
of less than a score of years. Christian Science may be 
anything that its foes try to prove it to be, but that mag- 
nificent church, holding five thousand people, dedicated 
free from debt, and the centre of an enthusiasm and rever- 
ence of worship such as religious annals hardly parallel 
in modern times, is a tangible reality, and critics who 
seek the light must have done with scoffs and jeers if 
they would deal with the phenomenon with any effect. 

[Portland (Ore.) Telegram] 

The last issue of the Christian Science Sentinel contains 
a rather remarkable announcement to the effect that 
friends were requested to send no more money for the 
building of the church which was recently dedicated at 
Boston. This structure cost about two million dollars, 
and all of the funds required to build it were raised in a 
little less than three years. It was dedicated absolutely 
free of debt, and no member of the church anywhere, 
in this country or elsewhere, was asked to contribute a 
dollar. Contributions were entirely voluntary. No re- 
sort was had to any of the latter-day methods of raising- 
money. The record is one of which any church might 
well be proud. 

[Portland (Me.) Advertiser] 

The erection in Boston of the two-million-dollar church 
of the Christian Scientists and its dedication free from 
debt has been a wonderful achievement, but as our con- 



AS CHRONICLED BY THE NEWSPAPERS 99 

temporary, the Boston Times, comments, it is but one of 
the marvellous, great, and really good things that this 
sect is doing. It says: "A faith which is able to raise 
its believers above the suffering of petty ills; a religion 
that makes the merry heart that doeth good like a 
medicine, not a necessity, but a pleasure and an essen- 
tial; a cult able to promote its faith with so great an 
aggregation of good and beneficial works, is welcomed 
within our midst and bidden Godspeed." 

[Denver (Col.) Republican] 

Christian Scientists are a remarkably optimistic body 
of people, and it must be said in their behalf that they 
are enthusiasts whenever their form of religion is con- 
cerned. They have recently built a splendid cathedral in 
Boston, seating five thousand people, at a cost of two 
million dollars, and when it was dedicated there was not a 
cent of indebtedness left. Thirty thousand of the faith, 
coming from all parts of the world, attended the dedicatory 
exercises, and the press reports state that the contribution 
baskets when passed around were literally stuffed and 
jammed with money. 

Less than a generation ago there was not a Christian 
Science church in the land. To-day there are hundreds 
of such churches. The denomination has grown with a 
rapidity that is starthng, and the end is not yet. 

[Bridgeport (Conn.) Standard] 

Facts and figures are stubborn things, and ignore them 
as we may their existence points out their meaning and 
leaves no choice but the acceptance of them at their 
face value. The recent dedication of a Christian Science 



100 THE FIRST CHURCH OF CHRIST, SCIENTIST 

temple in Boston has inevitably brought out in connection 
with the event some of the facts and figures belonging to 
it, which are as remarkable in their aggregate as they are 
unmistakable in their trend. The temple recently dedi- 
cated at Boston cost about two million dollars and is 
therefore the property of no poverty-stricken sect. On 
the Sunday of the dedication, thirty thousand worshippers 
were present in the building, coming from all, or nearly 
all, parts of the country, and representing a vast number 
of the followers of the cult. 

It is only twenty-five years, or thereabout, since the 
Christian Science sect made its appearance as a dis- 
tinctive organization among religious bodies, but its 
members are numbered by thousands to-day, and they 
are very generally of a class who are reputable, intelli- 
gent, and who think for themselves. 



PART II 

MISCELLANY 



MISCELLANY 

CHAPTER I 
TO THE CHRISTIAN WORLD 

IN the midst of the imperfect, perfection is reluctantly 
seen and acknowledged. Because Science is unim- 
peachable, it summons the severest conflicts of the ages 
and waits on God. 

The faith and works demanded of man in our textbooks, 
the Bible and "Science and Health with Key to the 
Scriptures,'^ and the proof of the practicality of this faith 
and these works, show conclusively that Christian Science 
is indeed Science, — the Science of Christ, the Science of 
God and man, of the creator and creation. In every age 
and at its every appearing. Science, until understood, has 
been persecuted and maligned. Infinite perfection is 
unfolded as man attains the stature of man in Christ 
Jesus by means of the Science which Jesus taught and 
practised. Alluding to this divine method, the Psalmist 
said: "Why do the heathen rage, and the people imagine 
a vain thing? '^ 

I have set forth Christian Science and its application 
to the treatment of disease just as I have discovered 
them. I have demonstrated through Mind the effects 
of Truth on the health, longevity, and morals of men; 
and I have found nothing in ancient or in modern sys- 
tems on which to found my own, except the teachings 
and demonstrations of our great Master and the lives 
of prophets and apostles. The Bible has been my only 

103 



104 mSCELLANY 

authority. I have had no other guide in the strait and 
narrow way of Truth. 

Jewish pagans thought that the learned St. Paul, the 
Mars' Hill orator, the canonized saint, was a "pestilent 
fellow/' but to-day all sorts of institutions flourish under 
the name of this "pestilent fellow." That epithet points 
a moral. Of old the Pharisees said of the great master 
of metaphysics, "He stirreth up the people." Because 
they could find no fault in him, they vented their hatred 
of Jesus in opprobrious terms. But what would be 
thought to-day of a man that should call St. Paul 
a "pest," and what ^ill be thought to-morrow of him 
who shall call a Christian Scientist a "pest"? Again, 
what shall be said of him who says that the Saviour 
of men, the healer of men, the Christ, the Truth, "stir- 
reth up the people"? 

It is of the utmost concern to the world that men 
suspend judgment and sentence on the pioneers of 
Christianity till they know of what and of whom these 
pioneers speak. A person's ignorance of Christian Sci- 
ence is a sufficient reason for his silence on the subject, 
but what can atone for the vulgar denunciation of that 
of which a man knows absolutely nothing? 

On November 21, 1898, in my class on Christian Science 
were many professional men and women of the highest 
talents, scholarship, and character in this or any other 
country. ^Miat was it that brought together this class 
to learn of her who, thirty years ago, was met ^^dth the 
anathema spoken of in Scripture: "Blessed are ye, when 
men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all 
manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake"? It 
was the healing of the sick, the saving of sinners, the works 



TO THE CHRISTIAN WORLD 105 

even more than the words of Christ, Truth, which had 
of a verity stirred the people to search the Scriptures and 
to find in them man's only medicine for mind and body. 
This iEsculapius, defined Christianly and demonstrated 
scientifically, is the divine Principle whose rules demon- 
strated prove one's faith by his works. 

After my discovery of Christian Science, I healed con- 
sumption in its last stages, a case which the M.D.'s, 
by verdict of the stethoscope and the schools, declared 
incurable because the lungs were mostly consumed. I 
healed malignant diphtheria and carious bones that could 
be dented by the finger, saving the limbs when the sur- 
geon's instruments were lying on the table ready for their 
amputation. I have healed at one visit a cancer that had 
eaten the flesh of the neck and exposed the jugular vein 
so that it stood out like a cord. I have physically restored 
sight to the blind, hearing to the deaf, speech to the dumb, 
and have made the lame walk. 

About the year 1869, I was wired to attend the patient 
of a distinguished M.D., the late Dr. Davis of Manchester, 
N. H. The patient was pronounced dying of pneumonia, 
and was breathing at intervals in agony. Her physician, 
who stood by her bedside, declared that she could not live. 
On seeing her immediately restored by me without mate- 
rial aid, he asked earnestly if I had a work describing 
my system of healing. When answered in the negative, 
he urged me immediately to write a book which should 
explain to the world my curative system of metaphysics. 
In the ranks of the M.D.'s are noble men and women, 
and I love them; Jbut they must refrain from persecuting 
and misrepresenting a system of medicine which from 
personal experience I have proved to be more certain 



106 MISCELLANY 

and curative in functional and organic diseases than any 
material method. I admonish Christian Scientists either 
to speak charitably of all mankind or to keep silent, for 
love fulfils di\ine law and without this proof of love 
mental practice were profitless. 

The list of cases healed by me could be made to include 
hopeless organic diseases of almost every kind. I name 
those mentioned above simply to show the folly of beUev- 
ing that the immutable laws of omnipotent Mind have not 
power over and above matter in every mode and form, and 
the folly of the cognate declaration that Christian Science 
is limited to imaginary diseases ! On the contrary, Chris- 
tian Science has healed cases that I assert it would have 
been impossible for the surgeon or materia medica to cure. 
Without Mind, man and the universe would collapse; 
the winds would weary, and the world stand still. It is 
already proved that Christian Science rests on the basis of 
fixed Principle, and overcomes the e\ddence of diseased 
sensation. Human mentality, expressed in disease, sin, 
and death, in tempest and in flood, the divine Mind calms 
and limits with a word. 

In what sense is the Christian Scientist a "pest" ? Is it 
because he minds his own business more than does the 
average man, is not a brawler, an alcohol drinker, a 
tobacco user, a profane swearer, an adulterer, a fornicator, 
nor a dishonest politician or business man? Or is it 
because he is the very antipode of all these? In what 
sense is the Christian Scientist a charlatan? Is it because 
he heals the sick without drugs? 

Our great Exemplar, the Nazarene Prophet, healed 
through Mind, and commanded his followers to do like- 
wise. The prophets and apostles and the Christians in 



TO THE CHRISTIAN WORLD 107 

the first century healed the sick as a token of their Chris- 
tianity. Has Christianity improved upon its earher 
records, or has it retrograded? Compare the Hves of its 
professors with those of its followers at the beginning of 
the Christian era, and you have the correct answer. 

As a pertinent illustration of the general subject under 
discussion, I will cite a modern phase of medical practice, 
namely, the homoeopathic system, to which the old school 
has become reconciled. Here I speak from experience. 
In homoeopathy, the one thousandth attenuations and 
the same triturations of medicine have not an iota of the 
drug left in them, and the lower attenuations have so 
little that a vial full of the pellets can be swallowed without 
harm and without appreciable effect. Yet the homoe- 
opathist administers half a dozen or less of these same 
globules, and he tells you, and you believe him, that 
with these pellets he heals the sick. The diminishing of 
the drug does not disprove the efficiency of the homoeo- 
pathic system. It enhances its efficiency, for it identifies 
this system with mind, not matter, and places it nearer the 
grooves of omnipotence. O petty scorner of the infinite, 
wouldst thou mock God's miracles or scatter the shade of 
one who "shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty"? 
If, as Scripture declares, God made all that was made, 
then whatever is entitled to a classification as truth 
or science must be comprised in a knowledge or under- 
standing of God, for there can be nothing beyond 
illimitable divinity. 

The homoeopathist handles in his practice and heals the 
most violent stages of organic and inflammatory diseases, 
stops decomposition, removes enteritis, gastritis, hyper- 
semia, pneumonia, diphtheria, and ossification — the effects 



108 MISCELLANY 

of calcareous salts formed by carbonate and sulphate of 
lime; and the homoeopathic physician succeeds as well in 
healing his cases without drugs as does the allopath who 
depends upon drugs. Then is mind or matter the intelli- 
gent cause in pathology? If matter, I challenge matter 
to act apart from mind; and if mind, I have proved beyond 
cavil that the action of the divine Mind is salutary and 
potent in proportion as it is seen to act apart from matter. 
Hence our Master's saying, "The flesh profiteth nothing." 
The difference between metaphysics in homoeopathy and 
metaphysics in Christian Science consists in this forcible 
fact : the former enlists faith in the pharmacy of the 
human mind, and the latter couples faith with spiritual 
understanding and is based on the law of divine Mind. 
Christian Science recognizes that this Mind is the only 
lawgiver, omnipotent, infinite. All. Hence the divine 
Mind is the sovereign appeal, and there is nothing in 
the divine Mind to attenuate. The more of this Mind 
the better for both physician and patient. 

Ignorance, slang, and malice touch not the hem of the 
garment of Christian Scientists, for if they did once touch 
it, they would be destroyed. To be stoned for that which 
our Master designated as his best work, saying, "For 
which of those works do ye stone me, " is to make known 
the best work of a Christian Scientist. 

Finally, beloved brethren in Christ, the words of the 
New York press — "Mrs. Eddy not shaken'' — are valid. 
I remain steadfast in St. Paul's faith, and will close with 
his own words : " Christ is the head of the church : and he 
is the saviour of the body." 



CHAPTER II 
THE CHRISTIAN SCIENCE TEXTBOOK 

MATTER is but the subjective state of mortal mind. 
Matter has no more substance and reahty in our 
day-dreams than it has in our night-dreams. All the way 
mortals are experiencing the Adam-dream of mind in 
matter, the dream which is mortal and God-condemned 
and which is not the spiritual fact of being. When this 
scientific classification is understood, we shall have one 
Mind, one God, and we shall obey the commandment, 
"Love thy neighbor as thyself." 

If nineteen hundred years ago Christ taught his fol- 
lowers to heal the sick, he is to-day teaching them the 
same heavenly lesson. Christ is ^'the same yesterday, 
and to-day, and forever." "God is Love," the ever- 
operative divine Principle (or Person, if you please) whose 
person is not corporeal, not finite. This infinite Person 
we know not of by the hearing of the ear, yet we may 
sometimes say with Job, "But now mine eye [spiritual 
sense] seeth Thee." 

God is one because God is All. Therefore there can 
be but one God, one Christ. We are individually but 
specks in His universe, the reflex images of this divine 
Life, Truth, and Love, in whom "we live, and move, 
and have our being." Divine metaphysics is not to 
be scoffed at; it is Truth with us, God ^* manifest in the 
flesh," not alone by miracle and parable, but by proof; 

109 



110 MISCELLANY 

it is the divine nature of God, which belongs not to a 
dispensation now ended, but is ever present, casting out 
evils, healing the sick, and raising the dead — resurrect- 
ing individuals buried above-ground in material sense. 

At the present time this Bethlehem star looks down 
upon the long night of materialism, — material religion, 
material medicine, a material world; and it shines as of 
yore, though it "shineth in darkness; and the dark- 
ness comprehended it not." But the day will dawn and 
the daystar will appear, lighting the gloom, guiding the 
steps of progress from molecule and mortals outward and 
upward in the scale of being. 

Hidden electrical forces annihilating time and space, 
wireless telegraphy, navigation of the air; in fact, all the 
et cetera of mortal mind pressing to the front, remind me 
of my early dreams of flying in airy space, buoyant with 
liberty and the luxury of thought let loose, rising higher 
and forever higher in the boundless blue. And what of 
reality, if waking to bodily sensation is real and if bodily 
sensation makes us captives? The night thought, me- 
thinks, should unfold in part the facts of day, and open 
the prison doors and solve the blind problem of matter. 
The night thought should show us that even mortals 
can mount higher in the altitude of being. Mounting 
higher, mortals will cease to be mortal. Christ will have 
*^led captivity captive,'^ and immortality will have been 
brought to light. 

Robert Ingersoll's attempt to convict the Scriptures of 
inconsistency made his life an abject failure. Happily, 
the misquoting of "Science and Health with Key to the 
Scriptures," or quoting sentences or paragraphs torn from 
their necessary contexts, may serve to call attention to 



THE CHRISTIAN SCIENCE TEXTBOOK HI 

that book, and thus reveal truths which otherwise the 
reader would not have sought. Surely " the wrath of man 
shall praise Thee." 

The nature and truth of Christian Science cannot 
be destroyed by false psychics, crude theories or modes 
of metaphysics. Our master Metaphysician, the Galilean 
Prophet, had much the same class of minds to deal with 
as we have in our time. They disputed his teachings on 
practically the same grounds as are now assumed by many 
doctors and lawyers, but he swept away their illogical 
syllogisms as chaff is separated from the wheat. The 
genuine Christian Scientist will tell you that he has found 
the physical and spiritual status of a perfect Hfe through 
his textbook. 

The textbook of Christian Science maintains primitive 
Christianity, shows how to demonstrate it, and through- 
out is logical in premise and in conclusion. Can Scien- 
tists adhere to it, establish their practice of healing on 
its basis, become successful healers and models of good 
morals, and yet the book itself be absurd and unscientific? 
Is not the tree known by its fruit? Did Jesus mistake 
his mission and unwittingly misguide his followers? Were 
the apostles absurd and unscientific in adhering to his 
premise and proving that his conclusion was logical 
and divine? 

"The scientific statement of being " (Science and Health, 
p. 468) may irritate a certain class of professionals 
who fail to understand it, and they may pronounce it 
absurd, ambiguous, unscientific. But that Christian 
Science is valid, simple, real, and self-evident, thousands 
upon thousands attest with their individual demonstra-^ 
tions. They have themselves been healed and have 



112 MISCELLANY 

healed others by means of the Principle of Christian 
Science. Science has always been first met with denun- 
ciations. A fiction or a false philosophy flourishes for a 
time where Science gains no hearing. The followers of the 
Master in the early Christian centuries did just what he 
enjoined and what Christian Science makes practical to- 
day to those who abide in its teachings and build on its 
chief corner-stone. Our religious denominations interpret 
the Scriptures to fit a doctrine, but the doctrines taught 
by divine Science are founded squarely and only on the 
Scriptures. 

"Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" is not 
inconsistent in a single instance with its logical premise 
and conclusion, and ninety-nine out of every hundred 
of its readers — honest, intelligent, and scholarly — will 
tell you this. The earnest student of this book, under- 
standing it, demonstrates in some degree the truth of its 
statements, and knows that it contains a Science which 
is demonstrable when understood, and which is fully 
understood when demonstrated. That Christian Scien- 
tists, because of their uniformly pure morals and noble 
lives, are better representatives of Christian Science 
than the textbook itself, is not in accordance with the 
Scriptures. The tree is known by its fruit. The student 
of this book will tell you that his higher life is the result 
of his conscientious study of Science and Health in con- 
nection with the Bible. 

A book that through the good it does has won its 
way into the palaces of emperors and kings, into the 
home of the President of the United States, into the chief 
cities and the best families in our own and in foreign 
lands, a book which lies beside the Bible in hundreds 



THE CHRISTIAN SCIENCE TEXTBOOK 113 

of pulpits and in thousands of homes, which heals the 
sick and reclaims sinners in court and in cottage, is 
not less the evangel of Christian Science than is he 
who practises the teachings of this book or he who 
studies it and thereby is healed of disease. Can such a 
book be ambiguous, self-contradictory, or unprofitable 
to mankind? 

St. Paul was a follower but not an immediate disciple 
of our Lord, and Paul declares the truth of the complete 
system of Christian Science in these brief sentences: 
"There is therefore now no condemnation to them which 
are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after 
the Spirit. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus 
hath made me free from the law of sin and death." Was 
it profane for St. Paul to aspire to this knowledge of Christ 
and its demonstration, healing sin and sickness, because 
he was not a disciple of the personal Jesus? Nay, verily. 
Neither is it presumptuous or unscriptural or vain for 
another, a suckling in the arms of divine Love, to perfect 
His praise. 

A child will demonstrate Christian Science and have 
a clear perception of it. Then, is Christian Science a 
cold, dull abstraction, or is that unscientific which 
all around us is demonstrated on a fixed Principle and 
a given rule, — when, in proportion as this Principle 
and rule are understood, men are found casting out 
the evils of mortal thought, healing the sick, and uplift- 
ing human consciousness to a more spiritual life and 
love? The signs of the times emphasize the answer 
to this in the rapid and steady advancement of this Sci- 
ence among the scholarly and titled, the deep thinkers, 
the truly great men and women of this age. In the 



114 MISCELLANY 

words of the Master^ "Can ye not discern the signs of 
the times?" 

Christian Science teaches : Owe no man; be temperate; 
abstain from alcohol and tobacco; be honest, just, and 
pure; cast out evil and heal the sick; in short, Do unto 
others as ye would have others do to you. 

Has one Christian Scientist yet reached the maxi- 
mum of these teachings? And if not, why point the 
people to the lives of Christian Scientists and decry the 
book which has moulded their lives? Simply because 
the treasures of this textbook are not yet uncovered 
to the gaze of many men, the beauty of holiness is not 
yet won. 

My first writings on Christian Science began with notes 
on the Scriptures. I consulted no other authors and read 
no other book but the Bible for about three years. What 
I wrote had a strange coincidence or relationship with the 
light of revelation and solar light. I could not write these 
notes after sunset. All thoughts in the line of Scriptural 
interpretation would leave me until the rising of the sun. 
Then the influx of divine interpretation would pour in 
upon my spiritual sense as gloriously as the sunlight on the 
material senses. It was not myself, but the divine power 
of Truth and Love, infinitely above me, which dictated 
"Science and Health mth Key to the Scriptures." I 
have been learning the higher meaning of this book since 
writing it. 

Is it too much to say that this book is leavening 
the whole lump of human thought? You can trace its 
teachings in each step of mental and spiritual progress, 
from pulpit and press, in religion and ethics, and find 
these progressive steps either written or indicated in the 



THE CHRISTIAN SCIENCE TEXTBOOK 115 

book. It has mounted thought on the swift and mighty 
chariot of divine Love, which to-day is circKng the 
whole world. 

I should blush to write of "Science and Health with 
Key to the Scriptures" as I have, were it of human origin, 
and were I, apart from God, its author. But, as I was 
only a scribe echoing the harmonies of heaven in divine 
metaphysics, I cannot be super-modest in my estimate of 
the Christian Science textbook. 



CHAPTER III 

PERSONALITY 

Personal Contagion 

AT a time of contagious disease, Christian Scientists en- 
JL\. deavor to rise in consciousness to the true sense of 
the omnipotence of Life, Truth, and Love, and this great 
fact in Christian Science reahzed will stop a contagion. 

In time of rehgious or scientific prosperity, certain indi- 
viduals are inclined to cling to the personality of its 
leader. This state of mind is sickly; it is a contagion 
— a mental malady, which must be met and overcome. 
Why? Because it would dethrone the First Command- 
ment, Thou shalt have one God. 

If God is one and God is Person, then Person is infinite; 
and there is no personal worship, for God is divine Prin- 
ciple, Love. Hence the sin, the danger and darkness of 
personal contagion. 

Forgetting divine Principle brings on this contagion. 
Its symptoms are based upon personal sight or sense. 
Declaring the truth regarding an individual or leader, 
rendering praise to whom praise is due, is not a symp- 
tom of this contagious malady, but persistent pursuit 
of his or her person is. 

Every loss in grace and growth spiritual, since time 
began, has come from injustice and personal contagion. 
Had the ages helped their leaders to, and let them alone 

Copyright, 1909, by Mary Baker Eddy. 
116 



PERSONAL CONTAGION 117 

in, God's glory, the world would not have lost the Science 
of Christianity. 

"What went ye out for to see?" A person, or a Prin- 
ciple? Whichever it be, determines the right or the 
wrong of this following. A personal motive gratified by 
sense will leave one "a reed shaken with the wind," 
whereas helping a leader in God's direction, and giving 
this leader time and retirement to pursue the infinite 
ascent, — the comprehending of the divine order and con- 
sciousness in Science, — will break one's own dream of 
personal sense, heal disease, and make one a Christian 
Scientist. 

Is not the old question still rampant? "When saw we 
thee a stranger, and took thee in? or naked, and clothed 
thee? Or when saw we thee sick, or in prison, and came 
unto thee? " But when may we see you, to get some good 
out of your personality? 

"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was 
with God, and the Word was God" (St. John). This 
great truth of God's impersonality and individuality and 
of man in His image and hkeness, individual, but not 
personal, is the foundation of Christian Science. There 
was never a religion or philosophy lost to the centuries 
except by sinking its divine Principle in personality. 
May all Christian Scientists ponder this fact, and give 
their talents and loving hearts free scope only in the 
right direction! 

I left Boston in the height of prosperity to retreat from 
the world, and to seek the one divine Person, whereby 
and wherein to show others the footsteps from sense to 
Soul. To give me this opportunity is all that I ask of 
mankind. 



118 MISCELLANY 

My soul thanks the loyal, royal natures of the beloved 
members of my church who cheerfully obey God and 
steadily go on promoting the true Principle of Christian 
Science. Only the disobedient spread personal contagion, 
and any imaginary benefit they receive is the effect of 
self-mesmerism, wherein the remedy is worse than the 
disease. 



Letter to a Clergyman 

3Iy Dear Sir : — I beg to thank you for your most 
excellent letter. It is an outpouring of goodness and 
greatness with which you honor me. 

In a call upon my person, you would not see me, for 
spiritual sense demands and comnaands us; hence I seek 
to be "absent from the body," and such circumstances 
embarrass the higher criticism. 

The Scripture reads: "Blessed are they that have not 
seen, and yet have believed." A saving faith comes 
not of a person, but of Truth's presence and power. 
Soul, not sense, receives and gives it. One's voluntary 
withdrawal from society, from furnishing the demands 
upon the finite to supply the blessings of the infinite, — • 
something impossible in the Science of God and credited 
only by human belief, by a material and not by the 
spiritual sense of man, — should come from conscience. 

The doctrine of Buddha, w^hich rests on a heathen basis 
for its Nirvana, represents not the divinity of Christian 
Science, in which Truth, or Christ, finds its paradise in 
Spirit, in the consciousness of heaven within us — health, 
harmony, holiness, entirely apart from limitations, which 
would dwarf individuality in personality and couple evil 



LETTER TO A CLERGYMAN 119 

with good. It is convenient for history to record Hmi- 
tations and to regard evil as real, but it is impossible 
in Science to believe this, or on such a basis to demon- 
strate the divine Principle of that which is real, harmo- 
nious, and eternal — that which is based on one infinite 
God, and man, His idea, image, and likeness. 

In Science, we learn that man is not absorbed in the 
divine nature, but is absolved by it. Man is free from 
the flesh and is individual in consciousness — in Mind, 
not in matter. Think not that Christian Science tends 
towards Buddhism or any other "ism." Per contra, 
Christian Science destroys such tendency. Mary of old 
wept because she stooped down and looked into the sepul- 
chre — looked for the person, instead of the Principle that 
reveals Christ. The Mary of to-day looks up for Christ, 
away from the supposedly crucified to the ascended 
Christ, to the Truth that "healeth all thy diseases" and 
gives dominion over all the earth. The doubting disciple 
could not identify Christ spiritually, but he could mate- 
rially. He turned to the person, to the prints of the nails, 
to prove Christ, whereas the discharged evidence of mate- 
rial sense gave the real proof of his Saviour, the veritable 
Christ, Truth, which destroys the false sense with the 
evidence of Soul, immortality, eternal Life wfthout begin- 
ning or end of days. 

Should I give myself the pleasant pastime of seeing your 
personal self, or give you the opportunity of seeing mine, 
you would not see me thus, for I am not there. I 
have risen to look and wait and watch and pray for the 
spirit of Truth that leadeth away from person — from 
body to Soul, even to the true image and likeness of 
God. St. John found Christ, Truth, in the Word which 



120 MISCELLANY 

is God. We look for the sainted Revelator in his writ- 
ings, and there we find him. Those who look for me in 
person, or elsewhere than in my writings, lose me in- 
stead of find me. I hope and trust that you and I may 
meet in truth and know each other there, and know 
as we are known of God. 

Accept my gratitude for the chance you give me to 
answer your excellent letter. Forgive, if it needs forgive- 
ness, my honest position. Bear with me the burden of 
discovery and share with me the bliss of seeing the risen 
Christ, God's spiritual idea that takes away all sin, disease, 
and death, and gives to soul its native freedom. 



CHAPTER IV 

MESSAGES TO THE MOTHER CHURCH 
Communion, January 2, 1898 

MY Beloved Brethren: — I have suggested a 
change in the time for holding our semi-annual 
church meetings, in order to separate these sessions 
from the excitement and commotion of the season's 
holidays. 

In metaphysics we learn that the strength of peace 
and of suffering is sublime, a true, tried mental convic- 
tion that is neither tremulous nor relapsing. This 
strength is like the ocean, able to carry navies, yet 
yielding to the touch of a finger. This peace is spiritual ; 
never selfish, stony, nor stormy, but generous, reliable, 
helpful, and always at hand. 

Peace, like plain dealing, is somewhat out of fashion. 
Yet peace is desirable, and plain dealing is a jewel as beau- 
tiful as the gems that adorn the Christmas ring presented 
to me by my students in 1897. Few blemishes can be 
found in a true character, for it is always a diamond of the 
first water; but external gentility and good humor may 
be used to disguise internal vulgarity and villainy. No 
deformity exists in honesty, and no vulgarity in kindness. 
Christian Science, however, adds to these graces, and 
reflects the divine likeness. 

Self-denial is practical, and is not only polite to all 
but is pleasant to those who practise it. If one would 

121 



122 MISCELLANY 

follow the advice that one gratuitously bestows on 
others, this would create for one's self and for the world 
a destiny more grand than can issue from the brain of 
a dreamer. 

That glory only is imperishable which is fixed in one's 
own moral make-up. 

Sin is like a dock root. To cut off the top of a plant 
does no good; the roots must be eradicated or the plant 
will continue to grow. Now I am done with homilies 
and, you may add, with tedious prosaics. 

On the fifth of July last, my church tempted me ten- 
derly to be proud ! The deportment of its dear members 
was such as to command respect ever\^^here. It called 
forth flattering comment and created surprise in our good 
city of Concord. 

Beloved brethren, another Christmas has come and gone. 
Has it enabled us to know more of the healing Christ that 
saves from sickness and sin? Are we still searching dili- 
gently to find where the young child lies, and are we sat- 
isfied to know that our sense of Truth is not demoralized, 
finitized, cribbed, or cradled, but has risen to grasp the 
spiritual idea unenvironed by materiality? Can we say 
with the angels to-day: "He is risen; he is not here: 
behold the place where they laid him"? Yes, the real 
Christian Scientist can say his Christ is risen and is not 
the material Christ of creeds, but is Truth, even as Jesus 
declared; and the sense of Truth of the real Christian 
Scientist is spiritualized to behold this Christ, Truth, 
again healing the sick and saving sinners. The mission 
of our Master was to all mankind, and included the very 
hearts that rejected it — that refused to see the power 
of Truth in healing. 



COMMUNION, JANUARY 2, 1898 123 

Our unity and progress are proverbial, and this church's 
gifts to me are beyond comparison — they have become 
a wonder! To me, however, love is the greater marvel, 
so I must continue to prize love even more than the gifts 
which would express it. The great guerdon of divine 
Love, which moves the hearts of men to goodness and 
greatness, will reward these givers, and this encourages 
me to continue to urge the perfect model for your accept- 
ance as the ultimate of Christian Science. 

To-day in Concord, N. H., we have a modest hall in one 
of the finest localities in the city, — a reading-room and 
nine other rooms in the same building. ''Tell it not in 
Gath'M I had the property bought by the courtesy of 
another person to be rid of the care and responsibility of 
purchasing it, and furnished him the money to pay for it. 
The original cost of the estate was fourteen thousand 
dollars. With the repairs and other necessary expenses 
the amount is now about twenty thousand dollars. Ere 
long I will see you in this hall, Deo volente ; but my out- 
door accommodations at Pleasant View are bigger than 
the indoor. My little hall, which holds a trifle over two 
hundred people, is less sufficient to receive a church of ten 
thousand members than were the ^^ ^yq loaves and two 
fishes" to feed the multitude; but the true Christian 
Scientist is not frightened at miracles, and ofttimes small 
beginnings have large endings. 

Seeing that we have to attain to the ministry of right- 
eousness in all things, we must not overlook small things 
in goodness or in badness, for "trifles make perfection," 
and "the little foxes . . . spoil the vines." 

As a peculiar people whose God is All-in-all, let us say 
with St. Paul: "We faint not: but have renounced the 



124 MISCELLANY 

hidden things of dishonesty, not walking in craftiness, 
nor handUng the word of God deceitfully; but by mani- 
festation of the truth commending ourselves to every 
man's conscience." 

Communion, June 4, 1899 

My Beloved Brethren : — Looking on this annual assem- 
blage of human consciousness, — health, harmony, growth, 
grandeur, and achievement, garlanded with glad faces, 
willing hands, and warm hearts, — who would say to-day, 
"What a fond fool is hope"? The fruition of friendship, 
the world's arms outstretched to us, heart meeting heart 
across continents and oceans, bloodless sieges and tear- 
less triumphs, the "well done" already yours, and the 
undone waiting only your swift hands, — these are 
enough to make this hour glad. What more abounds 
and abides in the hearts of these hearers and speakers, 
pen may not tell. 

Nature reflects man and art pencils him, but it remains 
for Science to reveal man to man ; and between these lines 
of thought is written in luminous letters, O man, what 
art thou? Where art thou? Whence and whither? And, 
what shall the answer be? Expressive silence, or with 
finger pointing upward, — Thither ! Then produce thy 
records, time-table, log, traveller's companion, et cetera, 
and prove fairly the facts relating to the thitherward, — 
the rate of speed, the means of travel, and the number 
en route. Now what have you learned? The mystery 
of godliness — God made "manifest in the flesh," seen 
of men, and spiritually understood; and the mystery of 
iniquity — how to separate the tares from the wheat, 
that they consume in their own fires and no longer 



COMMUNION, JUNE 4, 1899 125 

kindle altars for human sacrifice. Have you learned to 
conquer sin, false affections, motives, and aims, — to be 
not only sayers but doers of the law? 

Brethren, our annual meeting is a grave guardian. It 
requires you to report progress, to refresh memory, to 
rejuvenate the branches and to vivify the buds, to bend 
upward the tendrils and to incline the vine towards the 
parent trunk. You come from feeding your flocks, big 
with promise; and you come with the sling of Israel's 
chosen one to meet the Goliaths. 

I have only to dip my pen in my heart to say. All honor 
to the members of our Board of Lectureship connected 
with The Mother Church. Loyal to the divine Principle 
they so ably vindicate, they earn their laurels. History 
will record their words, and their works will follow 
them. When reading their lectures, I have felt the touch 
of the spirit of the Mars' Hill orator, which always 
thrills the soul. 

The members of the Board of Education, under the 
auspices of the Massachusetts Metaphysical College, have 
acquitted themselves nobly. The students in my last 
class in 1898 are stars in my crown of rejoicing. 

We are deeply grateful that the church militant is 
looking into the subject of Christian Science, for Zion 
must put on her beautiful garments — her bridal robes. 
The hour is come; the bride (Word) is adorned, and lo, 
the bridegroom cometh! Are our lamps trimmed and 
burning? 

The doom of the Babylonish woman, referred to in Reve- 
lation, is being fulfilled. This woman, "drunken with the 
blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs 
of Jesus," "drunk with the wine of her fornication," 



126 MISCELLANY 

would enter even the church, — the body of Christ, Truth; 
and, retaining the heart of the harlot and the purpose 
of the destroying angel, would pour wormwood into the 
waters — the disturbed human mind — to drown the 
strong swimmer struggling for the shore, — aiming for 
Truth, — and if possible, to poison such as drink of the 
living water. But the recording angel, standing with 
"right foot upon the sea, and his left foot on the earth," 
has in his hand a book open (ready to be read), which un- 
covers and kills this mystery of iniquity and interprets the 
mystery of godliness, — how the first is finished and the 
second is no longer a mystery or a miracle, but a marvel, 
casting out evil and healing the sick. And a voice was 
heard, saying, "Come out of her, my people" (hearken 
not to her lies), "that ye receive not of her plagues. For 
her sins have reached unto heaven, and God hath remem- 
bered her iniquities . . . double unto her double accord- 
ing to her works: in the cup which she hath filled fill 
to her double ... for she saith in her heart, I . . . am 
no widow, . . . Therefore shall her plagues come in one 
day, death, and mourning, and famine; ... for strong is 
the Lord God who judgeth her." That which the Rev- 
elator saw in spiritual vision will be accomplished. The 
Babylonish woman is fallen, and who should mourn 
over the widowhood of lust, of her that "is become the 
habitation of devils, and the hold of every foul spirit, 
and a cage of every unclean . . . bird"? 

One thing is eternally here; it reigns supreme to-day, 
to-morrow, forever. We need it in our homes, at our fire- 
sides, on our altars, for with it win we the race of the 
centuries. We have it only as we live it. This is that 
needful one thing — di\'ine Science, whereby thought is 



COMMUNION, JUNE 4, 1899 127 

spiritualized, reaching outward and upward to Science in 
Christianity, Science in medicine, in physics, and in 
metaphysics. 

Happy are the people whose God is All-in-all, who ask 
only to be judged according to their works, who live to 
love. We thank the Giver of all good for the marvellous 
speed of the chariot-wheels of Truth and for the steadfast, 
calm coherence in the ranks of Christian Science. 

On comparison, it will be found that Christian Science 
possesses more of Christ's teachings and example than 
all other religions since the first century. Comparing 
our scientific system of metaphysical therapeutics with 
materia medica, we find that divine metaphysics com- 
pletely overshadows and overwhelms materia medica, even 
as Aaron's rod swallowed up the rods of the magicians 
of Egypt. I deliberately declare that when I was in prac- 
tice, out of one hundred cases I healed ninety-nine to 
the ten of materia medica. 

We should thank God for persecution and for prosecu- 
tion, if from these ensue a purer Protestantism and mono- 
theism for the latter days of the nineteenth century. A 
siege of the combined centuries, culminating in fierce attack, 
cannot demolish our strongholds. The forts of Christian 
Science, garrisoned by God's chosen ones, can never sur- 
render. Unlike Russia's armament, ours is not costly as 
men count cost, but it is rich beyond price, staunch and 
indestructible on land or sea; it is not curtailed in peace, 
surrendered in conquest, nor laid down at the feet of 
progress through the hands of omnipotence. And why? 
Because it is "on earth peace, good will toward men," — 
a cover and a defence adapted to all men, all nations, 
all times, climes, and races. I cannot quench my 



128 MISCELLANY 

desire to say this; and words are not vain when the 
depth of desire can find no other outlet to hberty. 
"Therefore ... let us go on unto perfection; not laying 
again the foundation of repentance from dead works." 
(Hebrews 6: L) 

A coroner's inquest, a board of health, or class legisla- 
tion is less than the Constitution of the United States, and 
infinitely less than God's benign government, which is 
*^ no respecter of persons." Truth crushed to earth springs 
spontaneously upward, and whispers to the breeze man's 
inalienable birthright — Liberty. " Where the Spirit of 
the Lord is, there is liberty." God is everywhere. No 
crown nor sceptre nor rulers rampant can quench the vital 
heritage of freedom — man's right to adopt a religion, 
to employ a physician, to live or to die according to the 
dictates of his own rational conscience and enlightened 
understanding. Men cannot punish a man for suicide; 
God does that. 

Christian Scientists abide by the laws of God and the 
laws of the land; and, following the command of the 
Master, they go into all the world, preaching the gospel 
and healing the sick. Therefore be wise and harmless, for 
without the former the latter were impracticable. A lack 
of wisdom betrays Truth into the hands of evil as effec- 
tually as does a subtle conspirator; the motive is not as 
wicked, but the result is as injurious. Return not evil for 
evil, but '^overcome evil with good." Then, whatever 
the shaft aimed at you or your practice may be, it will 
fall powerless, and God will reward your enemies accord- 
ing to their works. Watch, and pray daily that evil 
suggestions, in whatever guise, take no root in your 
thought nor bear fruit. Ofttimes examine yourselves, and 



COMMUNION, JUNE 4, 1899 129 

see if there be found anywhere a deterrent of Truth and 
Love, and ''hold fast that which is good." 

I reluctantly foresee great danger threatening our na- 
tion, — imperialism, monopoly, and a lax system of relig- 
ion. But the spirit of humanity, ethics, and Christianity 
sown broadcast — all concomitants of Christian Science 

— is taking strong hold of the public thought through- 
out our beloved country and in foreign lands, and is 
tending to counteract the trend of mad ambition. 

There is no night but in God's frown; there is no day 
but in His smile. The oracular skies, the verdant earth 

— bird, brook, blossom, breeze, and balm — are richly 
fraught with divine reflection. They come at Love's call. 
The nod of Spirit is nature's natal. 

And how is man, seen through the lens of Spirit, 
enlarged, and how counterpoised his origin from dust, 
and how he presses to his original, never severed 
from Spirit! O ye who leap disdainfully from this rock 
of ages, return and plant thy steps in Christ, Truth, 
"the stone which the builders rejected"! Then will 
angels administer grace, do thy errands, and be thy 
dearest allies. The divine law gives to man health 
and life everlasting — gives a soul to Soul, a present 
harmony wherein the good man's heart takes hold on 
heaven, and whose feet can never be moved. These 
are His green pastures beside still waters, where faith 
mounts upward, expatiates, strengthens, and exults. 

Lean not too much on your Leader. Trust God to 
direct your steps. Accept my counsel and teachings only 
as they include the spirit and the letter of the Ten Com- 
mandments, the Beatitudes, and the teachings and 
example of Christ Jesus. Refrain from public contro- 



130 MISCELLANY 

versy; correct the false with the true — then leave the 
latter to propagate. Watch and guard your own thoughts 
against evil suggestions and against malicious mental 
malpractice, wholly disloyal to the teachings of Christian 
Science. This hidden method of committing crime — ■ 
socially, physically, and morally — will ere long be un- 
earthed and punished as it deserves. The effort of 
disloyal students to blacken me and to keep my works 
from public recognition — students seeking only public 
notoriety, whom I have assisted pecuniarily and striven to 
uplift morally — has been made too many times and has 
failed too often for me to fear it. The spirit of Truth is 
the lever which elevates mankind. I have neither the 
time nor the inclination to be continually pursuing a lie 
— the one evil or the evil one. Therefore I ask the help 
of others in this matter, and I ask that according to 
the Scriptures my students reprove, rebuke, and exhort. 
A lie left to itself is not so soon destroyed as it is with 
the help of truth-telling. Truth never falters nor fails; 
it is our faith that fails. 

All published quotations from my works must have 
the author's name added to them. Quotation-marks are 
not sufficient. Borrowing from my copyrighted works, 
without credit, is inadmissible. But I need not say this 
to the loyal Christian Scientist — to him who keeps 
the commandments. "Science and Health with Key to 
the Scriptures" has an enormous strain put upon it, 
being used as a companion to the Bible in all your 
public ministrations, as teacher and as the embodiment 
and substance of the truth that is taught; hence 
my request, that you borrow little else from it, should 
seem reasonable. 



ADDRESS, JUNE 6, 1899 131 

Beloved, that which purifies the affections also strength- 
ens them, removes fear, subdues sin, and endues with 
divine power; that which refines character at the same 
time humbles, exalts, and commands a man, and obedience 
gives him courage, devotion, and attainment. For this 
hour, for this period, for spiritual sacrament, sacrifice, 
and ascension, we unite in giving thanks. For the body 
of Christ, for the life that we commemorate and would 
emulate, for the bread of heaven whereof if a man eat 
"he shall live forever," for the cup red with loving resti- 
tution, redemption, and inspiration, w^e give thanks. The 
signet of the great heart, given to me in a little symbol, 
seals the covenant of everlasting love. May apostate 
praise return to its first love, above the symbol seize the 
spirit, speak the "new tongue" — and may thought soar 
and Soul be. 

Address at Annual Meeting, June 6, 1899 

My Beloved Brethren: — I hope I shall not be found 
disorderly, but I wish to say briefly that this meeting is 
very joyous to me. Where God is we can meet, and where 
God is we can never part. There is something suggestive 
to me in this hour of the latter days of the nineteenth 
century, fulfilHng much of the divine law and the gospel. 
The divine law has said to us : " Bring ye all the tithes into 
the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, 
and prove me now herewith, saith the Lord of hosts, if I 
will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you 
out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to 
receive it." 

There is with us at this hour this great, great blessing; 
and may I say with the consciousness of Mind that the 



132 MISCELLANY 

fulfilment of divine Love in our lives is the demand of 
this hour — the special demand. We begin with the law 
as just announced, " Prove me now herewith, ... if I will 
not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a 
blessing," and we go to the Gospels, and there we hear: 
"In the world ye shall have tribulation; but be of good 
cheer; I have overcome the world." 

The Christian Scientist knows that spiritual faith and 
understanding pass through the waters of Meribah here — 
bitter waters; but he also knows they embark for infinity 
and anchor in omnipotence. 

Oh, may this hour be prolific, and at this time and in 
every heart may there come this benediction : Thou hast 
no longer to appeal to human strength, to strive with 
agony; I am thy deliverer. '' Of His own will begat He us 
with the word of truth." Divine Love has strengthened 
the hand and encouraged the heart of every member of this 
large church. Oh, may these rich blessings continue and 
be increased! Divine Love hath opened the gate Beau- 
tiful to us, where we may see God and live, see good in 
good, — God all, one, — one Mind and that divine; where 
we may love our neighbor as ourselves, and bless our 
enemies. 

Divine Love will also rebuke and destroy disease, and 
destroy the belief of life in matter. It will waken the 
dreamer — the sinner, dreaming of pleasure in sin; the sick, 
dreaming of suffering matter; the slothful, satisfied to 
sleep and dream. Divine Love is our only physician, 
and never loses a case. It binds up the broken-hearted; 
heals the poor body, whose whole head is sick and whose 
whole heart is faint; comforts such as mourn, wipes away 
the unavailing, tired tear, brings back the wanderer to 



LETTER OF THE PASTOR EMERITUS 133 

the Father's house in which are many mansions, many 
welcomes, many pardons for the penitent. 

Ofttimes I think of this in the great Kght of the present, 
the might and Kght of the present fulfilment. So shall 
all earth's children at last come to acknowledge God, and 
be one; inhabit His holy hill, the God-crowned summit 
of divine Science; the church militant rise to the church 
triumphant, and Zion be glorified. 

A Question Answered 

My beloved church will not receive a Message from 
me this summer, for my annual Message is swallowed 
up in sundries already given out. These crumbs and 
monads will feed the hungry, and the fragments gathered 
therefrom should waken the sleeper, — " dead in tres- 
passes and sins," — set the captive sense free from self's 
sordid sequela; and one more round of old Sol give birth 
to the sowing of Solomon. 

Mary Baker Eddy. 

Pleasant View, Concord, N. H., 
May 11, 1903. 

Letter of the Pastor Emeritus, June, 1903 

My Beloved Brethren : — I have a secret to tell you and 
a question to ask. Do you know how much I love you 
and the nature of this love? No: then my sacred secret 
is incommunicable, and we live apart. But, yes: and 
this inmost something becomes articulate, and my book 
is not all you know of me. But your knowledge with 
its magnitude of meaning uncovers my life, even as 
your heart has discovered it. The spiritual bespeaks 



134 MISCELLANY 

our temporal history. Difficulty, abnegation, constant 
battle against the world, the flesh, and evil, tell my long- 
kept secret — evidence a heart wholly in protest and 
unutterable in love. 

The unprecedented progress of Christian Science is pro- 
verbial, and we cannot be too grateful nor too humble for 
this, inasmuch as our daily lives serve to enhance or to 
stay its glory. To triumph in truth, to keep the faith 
individually and collectively, conflicting elements must 
be mastered. Defeat need not follow victory. Joy over 
good achievements and work well done should not 
be eclipsed by some lost opportunity, some imperative 
demand not yet met. 

Truth, Life, and Love will never lose their claim on us. 
And here let me add : — 

Truth happifies life in the hamlet or town; 
Life lessens all pride — its pomp and its frown — 
Love comes to om* tears like a soft summer shower, 
To beautify, bless, and inspire man's power. 

A Letter from Mrs. Eddy 

At the Wednesday evening meeting of April 3, 1907, 
in The First Church of Christ, Scientist, in Boston, the 
First Reader, Mr. William D. McCrackan, read the fol- 
lowing letter from Mrs. Eddy. In announcing this letter, 
he said : — 

" Permission has been secured from our beloved Leader 
to read you a letter from her to me. This letter is in 
Mrs. Eddy's own handwriting, with which I have been 
familiar for several years, and it shows her usual mental 
and physical vigor." 



LETTER TO THE MOTHER CHURCH 135 



Beloved Student: — The wise man has said, "When I 
was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, 
I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put 
away childish things." That this passage of Scripture 
and its concluding declaration may be applied to old age, 
is a solace. 

Perhaps you already know that I have heretofore per- 
sonally attended to my secular affairs, — to my income, 
investments, deposits, expenditures, and to my employ- 
ees. But the increasing demands upon my time and 
labor, and my yearning for more peace in my advancing 
years, have caused me to select a Board of Trustees to 
take the charge of my property; namely, the Hon. Henry 
M. Baker, Mr. Archibald McLellan, and Mr. Josiah E. 
Fernald. 

As you are the First Reader of my church in Boston, 
of about forty thousand members, I inform you of this, 
the aforesaid transaction. 

Lovingly yours in Christ, 

Mary Baker Eddy. 

Pleasant View, Concord, N. H., 
March 22, 1907. 

Letter to The Mother Church 
The First Church of Christ, Scientist, Boston, Mass. 

My Beloved Church : — Your love and fidelity cheer my 
advancing years. As Christian Scientists you under- 
stand the Scripture, "Fret not thyself because of evil- 
doers;" also you spiritually and scientifically understand 
that God is divine Love, omnipotent, omnipresent, in- 



136 MISCELLANY 

finite; hence it is enough for you and me to know that 
our "Redeemer Hveth'' and intercedeth for us. 

At this period my demonstration of Christian Science 
cannot be fully understood, theoretically; therefore 
it is best explained by its fruits, and by the life of 
our Lord as depicted in the chapter Atonement and 
Eucharist, in "Science and Health with Key to the 

^ ' Mary Baker Eddy. 

Pleasant View, Concord, N. H., 
April 2, 1907. 

Card 

I am pleased to say that the following members con- 
stitute the Board of Trustees who own my property : — 

1. The Hon. Henry M. Baker, who won a suit at 
law in Washington, D. C, for which it is alleged he 
was paid the highest fee ever received by a native of 
New Hampshire. 

2. Archibald McLellan, editor-in-chief of the Christian 
Science periodicals, circulating in the five grand divisions 
of our globe; also in Canada, Australia, etc. 

3. Josiah E. Fernald, justice of the peace and president 
of the National State Capital Bank, Concord, N. H. 

To my aforesaid Trustees I have committed the hard 
earnings of my pen, — the fruits of honest toil, the labor 
that is known by its fruits, — benefiting the human race ; 
and I have so done that I may have more peace, and time 
for spiritual thought and the higher criticism. 

Mary Baker Eddy. 
Pleasant View, Concord, N. H., 
AprU 3, 1907. 



MRS. EDDY'S AFFIDAVIT 137 

Mrs. Eddy's Affidavit 

The following affidavit, in the form of a letter from 
Mrs. Eddy to Judge Robert N. Chamberlin of the Superior 
Court, was filed in the office of the Clerk of the Court, 
Saturday, May 18. The Boston Globe, referring to this 
document, speaks of it as, "in the main, an example of 
crisp, clear, plain-speaking English." The entire letter is 
in Mrs. Eddy's own handwriting and is characteristic in 
both substance and penmanship : — 

Hon. Judge Chamberlin, Concord, N. H. 

Respected Sir : — It is over forty years that I have 
attended personally to my secular affairs, to my in- 
come, investments, deposits, expenditures, and to my 
employees. I have personally selected all my invest- 
ments, except in one or two instances, and have paid for 
the same. 

The increasing demands upon my time, labors, and 
thought, and yearning for more peace and to have my 
property and affairs carefully taken care of for the 
persons and purposes I have designated by my last will, 
influenced me to select a Board -of Trustees to take charge 
of my property; namely, the Hon. Henry M. Baker, 
Mr. Archibald McLellan, Mr. Josiah E. Fernald. I 
had contemplated doing this before the present proceed- 
ings were brought or I knew aught about them, and I 
had consulted Lawyer Streeter about the method. 

I selected said Trustees because I had implicit con- 
fidence in each one of them as to honesty and business 
capacity. No person influenced me to make this selec- 
tion. I find myself able to select the Trustees I need 



138 MISCELLANY 

without the help of others. I gave them my property to 
take care of because I wanted it protected and mj^self 
reheved of the burden of doing this. They have agreed 
with me to take care of my property and I consider this 
agreement a great benefit to me already. 

This suit was brought without my knowledge and is 
being carried on contrary to my wishes. I feel that it 
is not for my benefit in any way, but for my injury, 
and I know it was not needed to protect my person or 
property. The present proceedings test my trust in 
divine Love. My personal reputation is assailed and 
some of my students and trusted personal friends are 
cruelly, unjustly, and wTongfuUy accused. 

Mr. Calvin A. Frye and other students often ask me 
to receive persons whom I desire to see but decline to 
receive solely because I find that I cannot "serve two 
masters." I cannot be a Christian Scientist except I 
leave all for Christ. 

Trusting that I have not exceeded the bounds of pro- 
priety in the statements herein made by me, 

I remain most respectfully yours, 

Mary Baker Eddy. 

Pleasant View, Concord, N. H., 
May 16, 1907. 

State of New Hampshire, Merrimack, ss. 

On this sixteenth day of ]\Iay, 1907, personally appeared 
Mary Baker Eddy and made oath that the statements 
contained in the annexed letter directed to Honorable 
Judge Chamberhn and dated May 16, 1907, are true. 
Before me: Allen Hollis, 

Justice of the Peace. 



A WORD TO THE WISE 139 



NoTA Bene 

Beloved Students : — Rest assured that your Leader is 
living, loving, acting, enjoying. She is neither dead nor 
plucked up by the roots, but she is keenly alive to the 
reality of living, and safely, soulfully founded upon 
the rock, Christ Jesus, even the spiritual idea of Life, 
with its abounding, increasing, advancing footsteps of 
progress, primeval faith, hope, love. 

Like the verdure and evergreen that flourish when 
trampled upon, the Christian Scientist thrives in adver- 
sity; his is a life-lease of hope, home, heaven; his idea 
is nearing the Way, the Truth, and the Life, when mis- 
represented, belied, and trodden upon. Justice, honesty, 
cannot be abjured; their vitality involves Life, — calm, 
irresistible, eternal. 

A Word to the Wise 

My Beloved Brethren : — When I asked you to dispense 
with the Executive Members' meeting, the purpose of my 
request was sacred. It was to turn your sense of worship 
from the material to the spiritual, the personal to the 
impersonal, the denominational to the doctrinal, yea, 
from the human to the divine. 

Already you have advanced from the audible to the 
inaudible prayer; from the material to the spiritual 
communion; from drugs to Deity; and you have been 
greatly recompensed. Rejoice and be exceedingly glad, 
for so doth the divine Love redeem your body from dis- 
ease; your being from sensuality; your soul from sense; 
your life from death. 



140 MISCELLANY 

Of this abounding and abiding spiritual understand- 
ing the prophet Isaiah said, "And I will bring the blind 
by a way that they knew not; I will lead them in 
paths that they have not known: I will make dark- 
ness light before them, and crooked things straight. 
These things will I do unto them, and not forsake 
them." 

Mary Baker Eddy. 

Chestnut Hill, Mass. 

[Boston Globe] 

Abolishing the Communion 

In a letter addressed to Christian Scientists the Rev. 
Mary Baker Eddy explains that dropping the annual com- 
munion service of The First Church of Christ, Scientist, 
in Boston, need not debar distant members from attend- 
ing occasionally The Mother Church. The following is 
Mrs. Eddy's letter: — 

Beloved Christian Scientists: — Take courage. God is 
leading you onward and upward. Relinquishing a ma- 
terial form of communion advances it spiritually. 
The material form is a "Suffer it to be so now," and 
is abandoned so soon as God's Way -shower, Christ, 
points the advanced step. This instructs us how to 
be abased and how to abound. 

Dropping the communion of The Mother Church 
does not prevent its distant members from occasionally 
attending this church. 

Mary Baker Eddy. 

Chestnut Hill, Mass., 
June 21, 1908, 



COMMUNION SEASON IS ABOLISHED 141 

[Boston Globe] 
Communion Season is Abolished 

The general communion service of the Christian Science 
denomination, held annually in The First Church of 
Christ, Scientist, in this city, has been abolished by 
order of Mrs. Mary Baker Eddy. The services attended 
last Sunday [June 14] by ten thousand persons were thus 
the last to be held. Of late years members of the church 
outside of Boston have not been encouraged to attend the 
communion seasons except on the triennial gatherings, 
the next of which would have been held next year. 

The announcement in regard to the services was made 
last night [June 21] by Alfred Farlow of the publication 
committee as follows : — 

The First Church of Christ, Scientist, in Boston, has 
taken steps to abolish its famous communion seasons. 
In former years, the annual communion season of the 
Boston church has offered an occasion for the gathering 
of vast multitudes of Christian Scientists from all parts 
of the world. According to the following statement, which 
Mrs. Eddy has just given out to the press, these gather- 
ings will be discontinued: — 

"The house of The Mother Church seats only five thou- 
sand people, and its membership includes forty-eight 
thousand communicants, hence the following : — 

"The branch churches continue their communion sea- 
sons, but there shall be no more communion season in 
The Mother Church that has blossomed into spiritual 
beauty, communion universal and divine. 'For who 



142 MISCELLANY 

hath known the mind of the Lord^ that he may instruct 
him? But we have the mind of Christ.' (1 Corinthians, 
2 : 16.) " 

[Mrs. Eddy has only abohshed the disappointment of 
communicants who come long distances and then find no 
seats in The Mother Church. — Editor Sentinel.] 

Mrs. Eddy's Reply 

Judge Clifford P. Smith, LL.B., C.S.B., 

First Reader, The Mother Church, Boston, Mass. 

Beloved Christian Scientist : — Accept my thanks for 
your approval of abolishing the communion season of 
The Mother Church. I sought God's guidance in doing 
it, but the most important events are criticized. 

The Mother Church communion season was liter- 
ally a communion of branch church commum' cants 
which might in time lose its sacredness and merge into 
a meeting for greetings. My beloved brethren may 
some time learn this and rejoice with me, as they so 
often have done, over a step higher in their passage 
from sense to Soul. 

Most truly yours, 

Mary Baker Eddy. 

Box G, Brookline, Mass., 
June 24, 1908. 

The Christian Science Board of Directors 

Beloved Students : — I thank you for your kind invi- 
tation to be present at the annual meeting of The 
Mother Church on June 7, 1909. I will attend the 



MRS. EDDY'S STATEMENTS 143 

meeting, but not in propria persona. Watch and pray 

that God directs your meetings and your Hves, and your 

Leader will then be sure that they are blessed in their 

results. T . 1 

Lovmgly yours, 

Brookline, Mass., Mary Baker Eddy. 

June 5, 1909. 

Mrs. Eddy's Statements 

To Whom It May Concern : — I have the pleasure to 
report to one and all of my beloved friends and followers 
that I exist in the flesh, and am seen daily by the mem- 
bers of my household and by those with whom I have 
appointments. 

Above all this fustian of either denying or asserting the 
personality and presence of Mary Baker Eddy, stands 
the eternal fact of Christian Science and the honest history 
of its Discoverer and Founder. It is self-evident that 
the discoverer of an eternal truth cannot be a temporal 
fraud. 

The Cause of Christian Science is prospering through- 
out the world and stands forever as an eternal and de- 
monstrable Science, and I do not regard this attack upon 
me as a trial, for when these things cease to bless they 
will cease to occur. 

"And we know that all things work together for good 

to them that love God, to them who are the called 

according to His purpose. . . .What shall we then say 

to these things? If God be for us, who can be against 

us?" 

Mary Baker Eddy. 

Chestnut Hill, Mass., 

June 7, 1909. 



144 MISCELLANY 

Mrs. Eddy also sent the following letter to the mem- 
bers of her church in Concord, N. H. : — 

FiKST Chuech of Christ, Scientist, Concord, N. H. 

My Beloved Brethren : — Give yourselves no fear and 
spare not a moment's thought to lies afloat that I am sick, 
helpless, or an invalid. The public report that I am in 
either of the aforesaid conditions is utterly false. 

With love, ever yours, 

Mary Baker Eddy. 
Box G, Brookline, Mass., 
June 7, 1909. 



CHAPTER V 

CHRISTIAN SCIENCE HALL, CONCORD, N. H. 
In Retrospect 

MY Dear Editors : — You are by this time ac- 
• quainted with the small item that in October, 1897, 
I proposed to one of Concord's best builders the plan for 
Christian Science Hall in Concord, N. H. He drew the 
plan, showed it to me, and I accepted it. From that 
time, October 29, 1897, until the remodelling of the house 
was finished, I inspected the work every day, suggested 
the details outside and inside from the foundations to 
the tower, and saw them carried out. One day the car- 
penters' foreman said to me: "I want to be let off for 
a few days. I do not feel able to keep about. I am 
feeling an old ailment my mother had." I healed him 
on the spot. He remained at work, and the next morn- 
ing said to Mr. George H. Moore of Concord, "I am as 
well as I ever was." 

Within the past year and two months, I have worked 
even harder than usual, but I cannot go upon the plat- 
form and still be at home attending to the machinery 
which keeps the wheels revolving. This well-known 
fact makes me the servant of the race — and gladly 
thus, if in this way I can serve equally my friends and 
my enemies. 

145 



146 MISCELLANY 

In explanation of my dedicatory letter to the Chicago 
church (seepage 177), I will say: It is understood by all 
Christians that Jesus spoke the truth. He said: "They 
shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly 
thing, it shall not hurt them." I beheve this saying 
because I understand it, but its verity has not been 
acknowledged since the third century. 

The statement in my letter to the church in Chicago, 
in substance as follows, has been quoted and criticized: 
"If wisdom lengthens my sum of years to fourscore, I 
may then be even younger than now." 

Few believe this saying. Few believe that Christian 
Science contains infinitely more than has been demon- 
strated, or that the altitude of its highest propositions has 
not yet been reached. The heights of the great Naza- 
rene's sayings are not fully scaled. Yet his immortal 
words and my poor prophecy, if they are true at all, are 
as true to-day as they will be to-morrow. I am convinced 
of the absolute truth of his sayings and of their present 
application to mankind, and I am equally sure that what 
I wrote is true, although it has not been demonstrated 
in this age. 

Christian Scientists hold as a vital point that the beliefs 
of mortals tip the scale of being, morally and physically, 
either in the right or in the wrong direction. Therefore 
a Christian Scientist never mentally or audibly takes 
the side of sin, disease, or death. Others who take the 
side of error do it ignorantly or maliciously. The Chris- 
tian Scientist voices the harmonious and eternal, and 
nothing else. He lays his whole weight of thought, 
tongue, and pen in the divine scale of being — for 
health and holiness. 



SECOND SUNDAY SERVICE 147 

Second Sunday Service, December 12, 1897 

Friends and Brethren : — There are moments when at 
the touch of memory the past comes forth hke a pageant 
and the present is prophetic. Over a half century ago, 
between the morning and afternoon services of the First 
Congregational Church, the grand old elm on North State 
Street flung its foliage in kindly shelter over my child- 
hood's Sunday noons. And now, at this distant day, I 
have provided for you a modest hall, in which to assemble 
as a sort of Christian Science kindergarten for teaching 
the "new tongue" of the gospel with "signs following,'' 
of which St. Mark prophesies. 

May this little sanctum be preserved sacred to the 
memory of this pure purpose, and subserve it. Let 
the Bible and the Christian Science textbook preach the 
gospel which heals the sick and enlightens the people's 
sense of Christian Science. This ministry, reaching the 
physical, moral, and spiritual needs of humanity, will, 
in the name of Almighty God, speak the truth that 
to-day, as in olden time, is found able to heal both sin 
and disease. 

I have purchased a pleasant place for you, and prepared 
for your use work-rooms and a little hall, which are already 
dedicated to Christ's service, since Christian Scientists 
never stop ceremoniously to dedicate halls. I shall be 
with you personally very seldom. I have a work to do 
that, in the words of our Master, "ye know not of." 
From the interior of Africa to the utmost parts of the earth, 
the sick and the heavenly homesick or hungry hearts are 
calling on me for help, and I am helping them. You have 
less need of me than have they, and you must not expect 



148 MISCELLANY 

me further to do your pioneer work in this citr. Faithfully 
and more than ever persistently, you are now, through 
the providence of God, called to do your part wisely and 
to let your faith be known by your works. All that we 
ask of any people is to judge our doctrine by its fruits. 
May the good folk of Concord have this opportunity, 
and may the God of all grace, truth, and love be and abide 
with you henceforth. 

Address to the Concord Church, February, 1899 

My Beloved Brethren : — In the annals of our denomina- 
tion this church becomes historic, ha\dng completed 
its organization February 22 — Washington's birthday. 
Memorable date, all unthought of till the day had passed! 
Then we beheld the omen, — religious hberty, — the 
Father of the universe and the father of our nation in 
concurrence. 

To-day, with the large membership of seventy-four com- 
municants, you have met to praise God. I, as usual at 
home and alone, am with you in spirit, joining in your 
rejoicing, and my heart is asking: What are the angels say- 
ing or singing of this dear little flock, and what is each 
heart in this house repeating, and what is being recorded 
of this meeting as with the pen of an angel? 

Bear in mind always that Christianity is not alone a 
gift, but that it is a growth Christward; it is not a creed 
or dogma, — a philosophical phantasm, — nor the opinions 
of a sect struggling to gain power over contending sects 
and scourging the sect in advance of it. Christianity is 
the summons of divine Love for man to be Christhke — 
to emulate the words and the works of our great Master. 



ADDRESS, FEBRUARY, 1899 149 

To attain to these works, men must know somewhat of 
the divine Principle of Jesus' hfe-work, and must prove 
their knowledge by doing as he bade : " Go, and do thou 
likewise." 

We know Principle only through Science. The Prin- 
ciple of Christ is divine Love, resistless Life and Truth. 
Then the Science of the Principle must be Christlike, 
or Christian Science. More than regal is the majesty 
of the meekness of the Christ-principle; and its might is 
the ever-flowing tides of truth that sweep the universe, 
create and govern it; and its radiant stores of knowl- 
edge are the mysteries of exhaustless being. Seek ye 
these till you make their treasures yours. 

When a young man vainly boasted, " I am wise, for I 
have conversed with many wise men," Epictetus made 
answer, "And I with many rich men, but I am not rich." 
The richest blessings are obtained by labor. A vessel 
full must be emptied before it can be refilled. Lawyers 
may know too much of human law to have a clear per- 
ception of divine justice, and divines be too deeply read 
in scholastic theology to appreciate or to demonstrate 
Christian charity. Losing the comprehensive in the 
technical, the Principle in its accessories, cause in effect, 
and faith in sight, we lose the Science of Christianity, — 
a predicament quite like that of the man who could not 
see London for its houses. 

Clouds parsimonious of rain, that swing in the sky with 
dumb thunderbolts, are seen and forgotten in the same 
hour; while those with a mighty rush, which waken the 
stagnant waters and solicit every root and every leaf with 
the treasures of rain, ask no praising. Remember, thou 
canst be brought into no condition, be it ever so severe, 



150 MISCELLANY 

where Love has not been before thee and where its tender 
lesson is not awaiting thee. Therefore despair not nor 
murmur, for that which seeketh to save, to heal, and to 
deliver, will guide thee, if thou seekest this guidance. 

Pliny gives the following description of the character of 
true greatness: "Doing what deserves to be written, and 
writing what deserves to be read ; and rendering the world 
happier and better for having lived in it." Strive thou 
for the joy and crown of such a pilgrimage — the service 
of such a mission. 

A heart touched and hallowed by one chord of Christian 
Science, can accomplish the full scale; but this heart must 
be honest and in earnest and never weary of struggling to 
be perfect — to reflect the divine Life, Truth, and Love. 

Stand by the limpid lake, sleeping amid willowy banks 
dyed with emerald. See therein the mirrored sky and the 
moon ablaze with her mild glory. This will stir your 
heart. Then, in speechless prayer, ask God to enable you 
to reflect God, to become His own image and likeness, 
even the calm, clear, radiant reflection of Christ's glory, 
healing the sick, bringing the sinner to repentance, and 
raising the spiritually dead in trespasses and sins to life 
in God. Jesus said : " If ye abide in me, and my words 
abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be 
done unto you." 

Beloved in Christ, what our Master said unto his 
disciples, when he sent them forth to heal the sick and 
preach the gospel, I say unto you : " Be ye therefore wise 
as serpents, and harmless as doves." Then, if the wis- 
dom you manifest causes Christendom or the disclaimer 
against God to call this "a subtle fraud," "let your peace 
return to you." 



MESSAGE, APRIL 19, 1899 151 

I am patient with the newspaper wares and the 
present schoolboy epithets and attacks of a portion of 
Christendom : 

(1) Because I sympathize with their ignorance of 
Christian Science: 

(2) Because I know that no Christian can or does 
understand this Science and not love it: 

(3) Because these attacks afford opportunity for ex- 
plaining Christian Science: 

(4) Because it is written: "The wrath of man shall 
praise Thee: the remainder of wrath shalt Thou restrain." 

Rest assured that the injustice done by press and pulpit 
to this denomination of Christians will cease, when it no 
longer blesses this denomination. "This I know; for God 
is for me" (Psalms). And in the words of St. Paul, "If 
God be for us, who can be against us?" 

"Pass ye the proud fane by, 

The vaulted aisles by flaunting folly trod, 
And 'neath the temple of uplifted sky — 
Go forth, and worship God.'* 

Message, April 19, 1899 

Subject: "Not Matter, but Spirit" 

My Beloved Brethren : — We learn from the Scrip- 
tures that the Baalites or sun-worshippers failed to 
look "through nature up to nature's God," thus missing 
the discovery of all cause and effect. They were content 
to look no higher than the symbol. This departure from 
Spirit, this worshipping of matter in the name of nature, 
was idolatry then and is idolatry now. When human 
thought discerned its idolatrous tendencies, it took a step 



152 MISCELLANY 

higher; but it immediately turned to another form of 
idolatry, and, worshipping person instead of Principle, 
anchored its faith in troubled waters. At that period, 
the touch of Jesus' robe and the handkerchief of St. 
Paul were supposed to heal the sick, and our Master 
declared, "Thy faith hath made thee whole." The 
medicine-man, far lower in the scale of thought, said, 
"My material tonic has strengthened you." By reposing 
faith in man and in matter, the human race has not 
yet reached the understanding of God, the conception 
of Spirit and its all-power. 

The restoration of pure Christianity rests solely on 
spiritual understanding, spiritual worship, spiritual power. 
Ask thyself, Do I enter by the door and worship only 
Spirit and spiritually, or do I climb up some other way? 
Do I understand God as Love, the divine Principle of all 
that really is, .the infinite good, than which there is none 
else and in whom is all? Unless this be so, the blind is 
leading the blind, and both will stumble into doubt and 
darkness, even as the ages have shown. To-day, if ye 
would hear His voice, listen to His Word and serve no 
other gods. Then the divine Principle of good, that we 
call God, will be found an ever-present help in all things, 
and Christian Science will be understood. It will also be 
seen that this God demands all our faith and love; that 
matter, man, or woman can never heal you nor pardon a 
single sin; while God, the divine Principle of nature and 
man, when understood and demonstrated, is found to be 
the remote, predisposing, and present cause of all that is 
rightly done. 

I have the sweet satisfaction of sending to you weekly 
flowers that my skilful florist has coaxed into loveliness 



MESSAGE, APRIL 19, 1899 153 

despite our winter snows. Also I hear that the loving 
hearts and hands of the Christian Scientists in Concord 
send these floral offerings in my name to the sick and 
suffering. Now, if these kind hearts will only do this in 
Christ's name, the power of Truth and Love will fulfil the 
law in righteousness. The healing and the gospel ministry 
of my students in Concord have come to fulfil the whole 
law. Unto '^ the angel of the church in Philadelphia," 
the church of brotherly love, "these things saith He 
that is holy." 

To-day our great Master would say to the aged gentle- 
man healed from the day my flowers visited his bedside: 
Thy faith hath healed thee. The flowers were imbued 
and associated with no intrinsic healing qualities from my 
poor personality. The scientific, healing faith is a saving 
faith; it keeps steadfastly the great and first command- 
ment, "Thou shalt have no other gods before me" — no 
other than the spiritual help of divine Love. Faith in 
aught else misguides the understanding, ignores the power 
of God, and, in the words of St. Paul, appeals to an un- 
known power "whom therefore ye ignorantly worship." 
This trembling and blind faith, in the past as in the present, 
seeks personality for support, unmindful of the divine law 
of Love, which can be understood, the Principle of which 
works intelligently as the divine Mind, not as matter, 
casting out evil and healing the sick. 

Christian Science healing is '*the Spirit and the bride," 
— the Word and the wedding of this Word to all human 
thought and action, — that says : Come, and I wifl give 
thee rest, peace, health, holiness. The sweet flowers 
should be to us His apostles, pointing away from matter 
and man up to the one source, divine Life and Love, in 



154 MISCELLANY 

whom is all salvation from sin, disease, and death. The 
Science of all healing is based on Mind — the power of 
Truth over error. It is not the person who gives the 
drug nor the drug itself that heals, but it is the law of 
Life understood by the practitioner as transcending the 
law of death. 

I shall scarcely venture to send flowers to this little hall 
if they can be made to infringe the divine law of Love 
even in thought. Send flowers and all things fair and 
comforting to the dear sick, but remember it is not he 
who gives the flowers that confers the blessing, but 
"my Spirit, saith the Lord;" for "in Him was life," and 
that life "was the light of men." 

FiKST Annual Meeting, January 11, 1900 

My Beloved Brethren : — At this, your first annual 
meeting, permit me to congratulate this little church in 
our city, weaving the new-old vesture in which to appear 
and to clothe the human race. Carlyle wrote: " Wouldst 
thou plant for eternity? Then plant into the deep infinite 
faculties of man. If the poor toil that we have food, must 
not the high and glorious toil for him in return that we 
have light, freedom, immortality?" I agree with him; 
and in our era of the world I welcome the means and 
methods, light and truth, emanating from the pulpit and 
press. Altogether it makes the church militant, embodied 
in a visible communion, the foreshadowing of the church 
triumphant. Communing heart with heart, mind with 
mind, soul with soul, wherein and whereby we are looking 
heavenward, is not looking nor gravitating earthward, 
take it in whatever sense you may. Such communing 



EASTER MESSAGE, 1902 155 

uplifts man's being; it makes healing the sick and reform- 
ing the sinner a mutual aid society, which is effective here 
and now. 

May this dear little church, nestled so near my heart 
and native hills, be steadfast in Christ, always abounding 
in love and good works, having unfaltering faith in the 
prophecies, promises, and proofs of Holy Writ. May this 
church have one God, one Christ, and that one the God and 
Saviour whom the Scriptures declare. May it catch the 
early trumpet-call, take step with the twentieth century, 
leave behind those things that are behind, lay down the 
low laurels of vainglory, and, pressing forward in the on- 
ward march of Truth, run in joy, health, holiness, the 
race set before it, till, home at last, it finds the full fru- 
ition of its faith, hope, and prayer. 

Easter Message, 1902 

Beloved Brethren : — May this glad Easter morn find 
the members of this dear church having a pure peace, a 
fresh joy, a clear vision of heaven here, — heaven within 
us, — and an awakened sense of the risen Christ. May 
long lines of light span the horizon of their hope and 
brighten their faith with a dawn that knows no twilight 
and no night. May those who discourse music to-day, 
sing as the angels heaven's symphonies that come to 
earth. 

May the dear Sunday School children always be gather- 
ing Easter lilies of love with happy hearts and ripening 
goodness. To-day may they find some sweet scents and 
beautiful blossoms in their Leader's love, which she sends 
to them this glad morn in the flowers and the cross from 
Pleasant View, smiling upon them. 



156 MISCELLANY 

Last Annual Meeting, January 6, 1904 

Beloved Brethren : — You will accept my gratitude for 
your dear letter, and allow me to reply in words of the 
Scripture: "I know whom I have believed, and am per- 
suaded that He is able" — "able to do exceeding abun- 
dantly above all that we ask or think," "able to make 
all grace abound toward you; that ye, always hav- 
ing all sufficiency in all things, may abound to every 
good work," "able to keep that which I have com- 
mitted unto Him against that day." 

When Jesus directed his disciples to prepare for the 
material passover, which spiritually speaking is the pass- 
over from sense to Soul, he bade them say to the good- 
man of the house: "The Master saith unto thee. Where 
is the guestchamber, where I shall eat the passover with 
my disciples? and he shall show you a large upper room 
furnished: there make ready." 

In obedience to this command may these communicants 
come with the upper chambers of thought prepared for the 
reception of Truth — with hope, faith, and love ready to 
partake of the bread that cometh down from heaven, and 
to "drink of his blood" — to receive into their affections 
and lives the inspiration which giveth victory over sin, 
disease, and death. 



CHAPTER VI 

FIRST CHURCH OF CHRIST, SCIENTIST, 
CONCORD, N. H. 

[Concord (N. H.) Monitor] 

Mks. Eddy's Gift to the Concord Church 

"T3EL0VED Teacher and Leader: — The members 
-L^ of the Concord church are filled with profound joy 
and deep gratitude that your generous gift of one hun- 
dred thousand dollars is to be used at once to build a 
beautiful church edifice for your followers in the capital 
city of your native State. We rejoice that the prosperity 
of the Cause in your home city, where, without regard 
to class or creed, you are so highly esteemed, makes 
necessary the commodious and beautiful church home 
you have so freely bestowed. We thank you for this 
renewed evidence of your unselfish love." 

The church will be built of the same beautiful Concord 
granite of which the National Library Building in Wash- 
ington is constructed. This is in accord with the ex- 
pressed wish of Mrs. Eddy, made known in her original 
deed of trust, first announced in the Concord Monitor 
of March 19, 1898. In response to an inquiry from the 
editor of that paper, Mrs. Eddy made the following 
statement : — 

On January 31, 1898, I gave a deed of trust to three 
individuals which conveyed to them the sum of one 

157 



158 MISCELLANY 

hundred thousand dollars to be appropriated in build- 
ing a granite church edifice for First Church of Christ, 
Scientist, in this city. 

Very truly, 

Mary Baker Eddy. 

Corner-Stone Laid at Concord 

Beloved Brethren : — This day drops down upon the 
glories of summer; it is a glad day, in attune with faith's 
fond trust. We live in an age of Love's divine adven- 
ture to be All-in-all. This day is the natal hour of my 
lone earth life; and for all mankind to-day hath its gloom 
and glory: it endureth all things; it points to the new 
birth, heaven here, the struggle over; it profits by the 
past and joys in the present — to-day lends a new-born 
beauty to holiness, patience, charity, love. 

Having all faith in Christian Science, we must have 
faith in whatever manifests love for God and man. The 
burden of proof that Christian Science is Science rests 
on Christian Scientists. The letter without the spirit 
is dead: it is the Spirit that heals the sick and the 
sinner — that makes the heart tender, faithful, true. 
Most men and women talk well, and some practise what 
they say. 

God has blessed and will bless this dear band of brethren. 
He has laid the chief corner-stone of the temple which 
to-day you commemorate, to-morrow complete, and there- 
after dedicate to Truth and Love. O may your temple 
and all who worship therein stand through all time for 
God and humanity ! 

Mary Baker Eddy. 



DEDICATION OF MRS. EDDY'S GIFT 159 



Message on the Occasion of the Dedication of 
Mrs. Eddy's Gift, July 17, 1904 

Beloved Brethren : — Never more sweet than to-day, 
seem to me, and must seem to thee, those words of 
our loved Lord, "Lo, I am with you alway, even unto 
the end." Thus may it ever be that Christ rejoiceth 
and comforteth us. Sitting at his feet, I send to 
you the throbbing of every pulse of my desire for the 
ripening and rich fruit of this branch of his vine, and 
I thank God who hath sent forth His word to heal 
and to save. 

At this period, the greatest man or woman on earth 
stands at the vestibule of Christian Science, struggling to 
enter into the perfect love of God and man. The infinite 
will not be buried in the finite; the true thought escapes 
from the inward to the outward, and this is the only 
right activity, that whereby we reach our higher 
nature.. Material theories tend to check spiritual at- 
traction — the tendency towards God, the infinite and 
eternal — by an opposite attraction towards the tem- 
porary and finite. Truth, life, and love are the only 
legitimate and eternal demands upon man; they are 
spiritual laws enforcing obedience and punishing dis- 
obedience. 

Even Epictetus, a heathen philosopher who held that 
Zeus, the master of the gods, could not control human 
will, writes, "What is the essence of God? Mind." The 
general thought chiefly regards material things, and keeps 

Copyright, 1904, by Mary Baker G. Eddy. All rights 
reserved. 



160 MISCELLANY 

Mind much out of sight. The Christian, however, strives 
for the spiritual; he abides in a right purpose, as in laws 
which it were impious to transgress, and follows Truth 
fearlessly. The heart that beats mostly for self is seldom 
alight with love. To live so as to keep human conscious- 
ness in constant relation with the divine, the spiritual, and 
the eternal, is to individualize infinite power; and this is 
Christian Science. 

It is of less importance that we receive from man- 
kind justice, than that we deserve it. Most of us 
willingly accept dead truisms which can be buried 
at will; but a live truth, even though it be a sapling 
within rich soil and with blossoms on its branches, 
frightens people. The trenchant truth that cuts its 
way through iron and sod, most men avoid until 
compelled to glance at it. Then they open their 
hearts to it for actual being, health, holiness, and im- 
mortality. 

I am asked, "Is there a hell?" Yes, there is a hell for 
all who persist in breaking the Golden Rule or in dis- 
obeying the commandments of God. Physical science 
has sometimes argued that the internal fires of our earth 
will eventually consume this planet. Christian Science 
shows that hidden unpunished sin is this internal fire, — 
even the fire of a guilty conscience, waking to a true sense 
of itself, and burning in torture until the sinner is con- 
sumed, — his sins destroyed. This may take millions of 
cycles, but of the time no man knoweth. The advanced 
psychist knows that this hell is mental, not material, and 
that the Christian has no part in it. Only the makers of 
hell burn in their fire. 

Concealed crimes, the wrongs done to others, are mill- 



DEDICATION OF MRS. EDDY'S GIFT 161 

stones hung around the necks of the wicked. Christ Jesus 
paid our debt and set us free by enabhng us to pay it; 
for which we are still his debtors, washing the Way-shower's 
feet with tears of joy. 

The intentional destroyer of others would destroy him- 
self eternally, were it not that his suffering reforms him, 
thus balancing his account with divine Love, which never 
remits the sentence necessary to reclaim the sinner. 
Hence these words of Christ Jesus : " Depart from me, all 
ye workers of iniquity. There shall be weeping and 
gnashing of teeth, when ye shall see Abraham, and 
Isaac, and Jacob, and all the prophets, in the kingdom of 
God, and you yourselves thrust out." (Luke 13: 27, 28.) 
He who gains self-knowledge, self-control, and the king- 
dom of heaven within himself, within his own conscious- 
ness, is saved through Christ, Truth. Mortals must 
drink sufficiently of the cup of their Lord and Master 
to unself mortality and to destroy its erroneous claims. 
Therefore, said Jesus, "Ye shall drink indeed of my 
cup, and be baptized with the baptism that I am 
baptized with." 

We cannot boast ourselves of to-morrow; sufficient unto 
each day is the duty thereof. Lest human reason becloud 
spiritual understanding, say not in thy heart: Sickness is 
possible because one's thought and conduct do not afford 
a sufficient defence against it. Trust in God, and "He 
shall direct thy paths." When evil was avenging itself on 
its destroyer, his preeminent goodness, the Godlike man 
said, "My burden is light." Only he who learns through 
meekness and love the falsity of supposititious life and 
intelligence in matter, can triumph over their ultimatum, 
sin, suffering, and death. 



162 MISCELLANY 

God's mercy for mortal ignorance and need is assured; 
then who shall question our want of more faith in His 
"very present help in trouble"? Jesus said: "Suffer 
it to be so now: for thus it becometh us to fulfil all 
righteousness." 

Strength is in man, not in muscles ; unity and power are 
not in atom or in dust. A small group of wise thinkers 
is better than a wilderness of dullards and stronger than 
the might of empires. Unity is spiritual cooperation, 
heart to heart, the bond of blessedness such as my beloved 
Christian Scientists all over the field, and the dear Sun- 
day School children, have demonstrated in gifts to me 
of about eighty thousand dollars, to be applied to build- 
ing, embellishing, and furnishing our church edifice in 
Concord, N. H. 

We read in Holy Writ : " This man began to build, and 
was not able to finish." This was spoken derisively. 
But the love that rebukes praises also, and methinks the 
same wisdom which spake thus in olden time would say 
to the builder of the Christian Scientists' church edifice 
in Concord: "Well done, good and faithful." Our proper 
reason for church edifices is, that in them Christians may 
worship God, — not that Christians may worship church 
edifices ! 

May the loving Shepherd of this feeble flock lead it 
gently into "green pastures . . . beside the still waters." 
May He increase its members, and may their faith never 
falter — their faith in and their understanding of divine 
Love. This church, born in my nativity, may it build 
upon the rock of ages against which the waves and winds 
beat in vain. May the towering top of its goodly temple 
— burdened with beauty, pointing to the heavens, bursting 



A KINDLY GREETING 163 

into the rapture of song — long call the worshipper to 
seek the haven of hope, the heaven of Soul, the sweet sense 
of angelic song chiming chaste challenge to praise him who 
won the way and taught mankind to win through meekness 
to might, goodness to grandeur, — from cross to crown, 
from sense to Soul, from gleam to glory, from matter to 
Spirit. ^ 

Announcement 

Not having the time to receive all the beloved ones who 
have so kindly come to the dedication of this church, I 
must not allow myself the pleasure of receiving any of 
them. I always try to be just, if not generous; and I 
cannot show my love for them in social ways without 
neglecting the sacred demands on my time and attention 
for labors which I think do them more good. 

A Kindly Greeting 

Bear Editor: — When I removed from Boston in 1889 
and came to Concord, N. H., it was that I might find 
retirement from many years of incessant labor for the 
Cause of Christian Science, and the opportunity in Con- 
cord's quiet to revise our textbook, "Science and Health 
with Key to the Scriptures." Here let me add that, 
together with the retirement I so much coveted, I have 
also received from the leading people of this pleasant city 
all and more than I anticipated. I love its people — 
love their scholarship, friendship, and granite char- 
acter. I respect their religious beliefs, and thank their 
ancestors for helping to form mine. The movement of 
establishing in this city a church of our faith was far from 



164 MISCELLANY 

my purpose, when I came here, knowing that such an 
effort would involve a lessening of the retirement I so 
much desired. But the demand increased, and I con- 
sented, hoping thereby to give to many in this city a 
church home. 

Acknowledgment of Gifts 
to the chicago churches 

My Beloved Brethren: — I have yearned to express my 
thanks for your munificent gift to First Church of Christ, 
Scientist, in Concord, of ten thousand dollars. What is 
gratitude but a powerful camera obscura, a thing focus- 
ing light where love, memory, and all within the human 
heart is present to manifest light. 

Is it not a joy to compare the beginning of Christian 
Science in Chicago with its present prosperity? Now 
[1904] six dear churches are there, the members of which 
not only possess a sound faith, but that faith also possesses 
them. A great sanity, a mighty something buried in the 
depths of the unseen, has wrought a resurrection among 
you, and has leaped into living love. What is this 
something, this phoenix fire, this pillar by day, kindling, 
guiding, and guarding your way? It is unity, the bond 
of perfectness, the thousandfold expansion that will 
engirdle the world, — unity, which unfolds the thought 
most within us into the greater and better, the sum of 
all reality and good. 

This unity is reserved wisdom and strength. It builds 
upon the rock, against which envy, enmity, or malice 
beat in vain. Man lives, moves, and has his being in God, 
Love. Then man must live, he cannot die; and Love 



ACKNOWLEDGMENT OF GIFTS 165 

must necessarily promote and pervade all his success. 
Of two things fate cannot rob us; namely, of choos- 
ing the best, and of helping others thus to choose. 
But in doing this the Master became the servant. The 
grand must stoop to the menial. There is scarcely an 
indignity which I have not endured for the cause of 
Christ, Truth, and I returned blessing for cursing. The 
best help the worst; the righteous suffer for the unright- 
eous; and by this spirit man lives and thrives, and by 
it God governs. 

TO FIRST CHURCH OF CHRIST, SCIENTIST, NEW YORK 

Beloved Brethren: — I beg to thank the dear brethren of 
this church for the sum of ten thousand dollars presented 
to me for First Church of Christ, Scientist, in Concord, 
N. H. Goodness never fails to receive its reward, for 
goodness makes life a blessing. As an active portion of 
one stupendous whole, goodness identifies man with 
universal good. Thus may each member of this church 
rise above the oft-repeated inquiry, What am I? to the 
scientific response : I am able to impart truth, health, and 
happiness, and this is my rock of salvation and my reason 
for existing. 

Human reason becomes tired and calls for rest. It has 
a relapse into the common hope. Goodness and benevo- 
lence never tire. They maintain themselves and others 
and never stop from exhaustion. He who is afraid of 
being too generous has lost the power of being magnani- 
mous. The best man or woman is the most unselfed. 
God grant that this church is rapidly nearing the maxi- 
mum of might, — the means that build to the heavens, 
— that it has indeed found and felt the infinite source 



166 MISCELLANY 

where is all, and from which it can help its neighbor. 
Then efforts to be great will never end in anarchy but 
will continue with divine approbation. It is insincerity 
and a half-persuaded faith that fail to succeed and fall 
to the earth. 

Religions may waste away, but the fittest survives; 
and so long as we have the right ideal, life is worth living 
and God takes care of our life. 

TO THE MOTHER CHURCH 

My Beloved Brethren: — Your munificent gift of ten 
thousand dollars, with which to furnish First Church of 
Christ, Scientist, of Concord, N. H., with an organ, is 
positive proof of your remembrance and love. Days of 
shade and shine may come and go, but we will live on and 
never drift apart. Life's ills are its chief recompense; 
they develop hidden strength. Had I never suffered for 
The Mother Church, neither she nor I would be practising 
the virtues that lie concealed in the smooth seasons and 
calms of human existence. When we are willing to help 
and to be helped, divine aid is near. If all our years were 
holidays, sport would be more irksome than work. So, 
my dear ones, let us together sing the old-new song of 
salvation, and let our measure of time and joy be spiritual, 
not material. 

TO FIRST CHURCH OF CHRIST, SCIENTIST, 
NEW LONDON, CONN. 

Beloved Brethren : — I am for the first time informed of 
your gift to me of a beautiful cabinet, costing one hundred 
and seventy-five dollars, for my books, placed in my room 
at First Church of Christ, Scientist, Concord, N, H. 



RELIGIOUS FREEDOM 167 

Accept my deep thanks therefor, and especially for the 
self-sacrifice it may have cost the dear donors. 

The mysticism of good is unknown to the flesh, for 
goodness is ''the fruit of the Spirit." The suppositional 
world within us separates us from the spiritual world, 
which is apart from matter, and unites us to one another. 
Spirit teaches us to resign what we are not and to un- 
derstand what we are in the unity of Spirit — in that 
Love which is faithful, an ever-present help in trouble, 
which never deserts us. 

I pray that heaven's messages of " on earth peace, good 
will toward men,'' may fill your hearts and leave their 
loving benedictions upon your lives. 

Thanksgiving Day, 1904 

Beloved Students: — May this, your first Thanksgiv- 
ing Day, according to time-tables, in our new church 
edifice, be one acceptable in His sight, and full of love, 
peace, and good will for yourselves, your fiock, and the 
race. Give to all the dear ones my love, and my 
prayer for their health, happiness, and holiness this 
and every day. 

Religious Freedom 

Beloved Brethren: — Allow me to send forth a paean 
of praise for the noble disposal of the legislative question 
as to the infringement of rights and privileges guaran- 
teed to you by the laws of my native State. The con- 
stituted rehgious rights in New Hampshire will, I trust, 
never be marred by the illegitimate claims of envy, 
jealousy, or persecution. 

In our country the day of heathenism, illiberal views, 



168 MISCELLANY 

or of an uncultivated understanding has passed. Free- 
dom to worship God according to the dictates of en- 
lightened conscience, and practical religion in agreement 
with the demand of our common Christ, the Holy One 
of Israel, are forever the privileges of the people of my 
dear old New Hampshire. 

Lovingly yours, 

Mary Baker Eddy. 
Box G, Brookline, Mass., 
April 12, 1909. 



CHAPTER VII 
PLEASANT VIEW AND CONCORD, N. H. 

Invitation to Concord, July 4, 1897 

MY Beloved Church: — I invite you, one and all, 
to Pleasant View, Concord, N. H., on July 5, at 
12.30 P.M., if you would enjoy so long a trip for so small 
a purpose as simply seeing Mother. 

My precious Busy Bees, under twelve years of age, 
are requested to visit me at a later date, which I hope 
soon to name to them. 

With love. Mother, 

Mary Baker Eddy. 
Pleasant View, Concord, N. H., 
June 30, 1897. 

[New York Journal] 
Visit to Concord, 1901 

Please say through the New York Journal, to the 
Christian Scientists of New York City and of the world 
at large, that I was happy to receive at Concord, N. H., 
the call of about three thousand believers of my faith, 
and that I was rejoiced at the appropriate beauty of 
time and place which greeted them. 

169 



170 MISCELLANY 

I am especially desirous that it should be understood 
that this was no festal occasion, no formal church cere- 
monial, but simply my acquiescence in the request of my 
church members that they might see the Leader of Chris- 
tian Science. 

The brevity of my remarks was due to a desire on my 
part that the important sentiments uttered in my annual 
Message to the church last Sunday should not be confused 
with other issues, but should be emphasized in the minds 
of all present here in Concord. 

Address at Pleasant View, June, 1903 

Beloved Brethren: — Welcome home! To your home 
in my heart! Welcome to Pleasant View, but not 
to varying views. I would present a gift to you 
to-day, only that this gift is already yours. God hath 
given it to all mankind. It is His coin. His currency; 
it has His image and superscription. This gift is a 
passage of Scripture; it is my sacred motto, and it 
reads thus: — 

"Trust in the Lord, and do good; so shalt thou dwell 
in the land, and verily thou shalt be fed. Delight thyself 
also in the Lord; and He shall give thee the desires of thine 
heart. Commit thy way unto the Lord; trust also in 
Him; and He shall bring it to pass. And He shall bring 
forth thy righteousness as the light, and thy judgment 
as the noonday." 

Beloved, some of you have come long distances to kneel 
with us in sacred silence in blest communion — unity of 
faith, understanding, prayer, and praise — and to return 
in joy, bearing your sheaves with you. In parting I 



VISIT TO CONCORD, 1904 171 

repeat to these dear members of my church: Trust in 
Truth, and have no other trusts. 

To-day is fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah: "And the 
ransomed of the Lord shall return, and come to Zion 
with songs and everlasting joy upon their heads: they 
shall obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and sigh- 
ing shall flee away." 

Visit to Concord, 1904 

Beloved Students : — The new Concord church is so 
nearly completed that I think you would enjoy seeing it. 
Therefore I hereby invite all my church communicants 
who attend this communion, to come to Concord, and 
view this beautiful structure, at two o'clock in the after- 
noon, Monday, June 13, 1904. 

Lovingly yours, 

Mary Baker Eddy. 
Pleasant View, Concord, N. H., 
June 11, 1904. 

THE DAY IN CONCORD 

While on her regular afternoon drive Mrs. Eddy re- 
sponded graciously to the silent greetings of the people 
who were assembled on the lawn of the Unitarian church 
and of the high school. Her carriage came to a stand- 
still on North State Street, and she was greeted in behalf 
of the church by the President, Mr. E. P. Bates, to 
whom she presented as a love-token for the church a 
handsome rosewood casket beautifully bound with bur- 
nished brass. 

The casket contained a gavel for the use of the 



172 MISCELLANY 

President of The Mother Church. The wood of the head 
of the gavel was taken from the old Yale College Athe- 
nseum, the first chapel of the college. It was built in 
1761, and razed in 1893 to make room for Vanderbilt 
Hall. The wood in the handle was grown on the farm 
of Mark Baker, father of the Rev. Mary Baker Eddy, 
at Bow, N. H. 

In presenting this gavel to President Bates, Mrs. Eddy 
spoke as follows to the members of her church. The First 
Church of Christ, Scientist, Boston, Mass. : — 

"My Beloved Brethren : — Permit me to present to you 
a little gift that has no intrinsic value save that which it 
represents — namely, a material symbol of my spiritual 
call to this my beloved church of over thirty thousand 
members ; and this is that call : In the words of our great 
Master, 'Go ye into all the world,' 'heal the sick,' cast 
out evil, disease, and death; 'Freely ye have received, 
freely give.' You will please accept my thanks for your 
kind, expert call on me." 

In reply Mr. Bates said, — 

"I accept this gift in behalf of the church, and for 
myself and my successors in office." 

The box containing the gavel was opened the following 
day in Boston at the annual meeting of The Mother 
Church of Christ, Scientist, and the enclosed note from 
Mrs. Eddy was read : — 

"My Beloved Brethren : — You will please accept 
from me the accompanying gift as a simple token of 
love." 



CARD OF THANKS 173 

Card of Thanks 

The following letter appeared in the Concord (N. H.) 
newspapers after the visit of the Christian Scientists in 
1904: — 

Dear Mr. Editor : — Allow me through your paper to 
thank the citizens of Concord for the generous hospi- 
tality extended yesterday to the members of my church, 
The Mother Church of Christ, Scientist, in Boston. 

After the Christian Science periodicals had given notice 
that no preparations would be made for a large gathering 
at this annual meeting of The Mother Church, I scarcely 
supposed that a note, sent at the last moment, would bring 
thousands here yesterday; but as many gifts had come 
from Christian Scientists everywhere to help furnish and 
beautify our new church building in Concord, it came to 
me: Why not invite those who attend the communion 
in Boston to take a peep at this church edifice on the day 
when there are no formal exercises at the denominational 
headquarters? The number of visitors, about four thou- 
sand, exceeded my expectation, and my heart welcomed 
each and all. It was a glad day for me — sweet to observe 
with what unanimity my fellow-citizens vied with each 
other to make the Christian Scientists' short stay so 
pleasant. 

Special thanks are due and are hereby tendered to his 
Honor, the Mayor, for arranging the details and allowing 
the visitors to assemble on the green surrounding the high 
school; also to Mr. George D. Waldron, chairman of the 
prudential committee of the Unitarian church, and to his 
colaborers on said committee and to the church itself, 
for their kindly foresight in granting permission, not only 



174 MISCELLANY 

to use the beautiful lawn surrounding their church build- 
ing, but also for throwing open their doors for the com- 
fort and convenience of the Christian Scientists during 
the day. The wide-spreading elms and soft greensward 
proved an ideal meeting place. I greatly appreciate the 
courtesy extended to my friends by the Wonolancet Club 
in again opening their spacious club-house to them on this 
occasion; and the courtesy of the efficient city marshal 
and his staff of police extended to me throughout. And 
last but not least, I thank the distinguished editors in my 
home city for their reports of the happy occasion. 

To First Congregational Church 

To the Rev. Franklin D. Ayer, D.D., Pastor Emeritus; the Rev. 
George H. Reed, Pastor of the First Congregational Church, 
Concord, N. H., Edward A. Moulton, John C. Thome, Wilham P. 
Ballard, Henry K. Morrison, Deacons. 

Beloved Brethren : — I have the pleasure of thanking 
you for your kind invitation to attend the one hun- 
dred and seventy-fifth anniversary of our time-honored 
First Congregational Church in Concord, N. H., where 
my parents first offered me to Christ in infant baptism. 
For nearly forty years and until I had a church of my 
own, I was a member of the Congregational Church in 
Tilton, N. H. 

To-day my soul can only sing and soar. An increas- 
ing sense of God's love, omnipresence, and omnipotence 
enfolds me. Each day I know Him nearer, love Him 
more, and humbly pray to serve Him better. Thus 
seeking and finding (though feebly), finally may we not 
together rejoice in the church triumphant? 



GREETINGS 175 

I would love to be with you at this deeply interesting 
anniversary, but my little church in Boston, Mass., of 
thirty-six thousand communicants, together with the 
organizations connected therewith, requires my constant 
attention and time, with the exception of a daily drive. 

Please accept the enclosed check for five hundred 
dollars, to aid in repairing your church building. 

Pleasant View, Concord, N. H., 
November 14, 1905. 

Greetings 

Allow me to say to the good folk of Concord that the 
growth and prosperity of our city cheer me. Its dear 
churches, reliable editors, intelligent medical faculty, 
up-to-date academies, humane institutions, provisions for 
the army, and well-conducted jail and state prison, — if, 
indeed, such must remain with us a little longer, — speak 
for themselves. Our picturesque city, however, greatly 
needs improved streets. May I ask in behalf of the public 
this favor of our city government; namely, to macadam- 
ize a portion of Warren Street and to macadamize North 
State Street throughout? 

Sweeter than the balm of Gilead, richer than the 
diamonds of Golconda, dear as the friendship of those 
we love, are justice, fraternity, and Christian charity. 
The song of my soul must remain so long as I remain. 
Let brotherly love continue. 

I am sure that the counterfeit letters in circulation, 
purporting to have my signature, must fail to influence the 
minds of this dear people to conclusions the very opposite 
of my real sentiments. 



176 MISCELLANY 

To First Church of Christ, Scientist, 
Wilmington, N. C. 

In Appreciation of a Gift of Fifty Dollars in Gold towards 
THE Concord (N. H.) Street Fund 

My Beloved Brethren: — Long ago you of the dear 
South paved the way to my forever gratitude, and now 
illustrate the past by your present love. God grant 
that such great goodness, pointing the path to heaven 
within you, hallow your Palmetto home with palms of 
victory and songs of glory. 



CHAPTER VIII 

DEDICATORY MESSAGES TO BRANCH CHURCHES 

First Church of Christ, Scientist, 
Chicago, III. 

BELOVED Brethren: — Most happily would I com- 
ply with your cordial invitation and be with you on 
so interesting an occasion as the dedication of First 
Church of Christ, Scientist, in Chicago. But daily duties 
require attention elsewhere, and I am glad to say that 
there seems to be no special need of my personal pres- 
ence at your religious jubilee. I am quite able to take 
the trip to your city, and if wisdom lengthens my sum 
of years to fourscore (already imputed to me), I shall 
then be even younger and nearer the eternal meridian 
than now, for the true knowledge and proof of life is in 
putting off the limitations and putting on the possibilities 
and permanence of Life. 

In your renowned city, the genesis of Christian Science 
was allied to that olden axiom : " The blood of the martyrs 
is the seed of the Church;" but succeeding years show in 
Uvid lines that the great Shepherd has nurtured and 
nourished this church as a fatling of the flock. To-day 
the glory of His presence rests upon it, the joy of many 
generations awaits it, and this prophecy of Isaiah is 
fulfilled among you: "I will direct their work in truth, 
and I will make an everlasting covenant with them." 

177 



178 MISCELLANY 

Your Bible and your textbook, pastor and ethical 
tenets, do not mislead the seeker after Truth. These 
unpretentious preachers cloud not the spiritual meaning 
of Holy Writ by material interpretations, nor lose the 
invincible process and purity of Christianity whereby 
the sick are healed and sinners saved. The Science of 
Christianity is not generally understood, but it hastens 
hourly to this end. This Science is the essence of religion, 
distilled in the laboratory of infinite Love and prepared 
for all peoples. And because Science is naturally divine, 
is this natural Science less profitable or scientific than 
"counting the legs of insects"? The Scripture declares 
that God is All. Then all is Spirit and spiritual. The 
true sense of life is lost to those who regard being 
as material. The Scripture pronounces all that God 
made ''good;" therefore if evil exists, it exists without 
God. But this is impossible in reality, for He made 
all "that was made." Hence the inevitable revelation 
of Christian Science — that evil is unreal; and this is 
the best of it. 

On April 15, 1891, the Christian Science textbook lay 
on a table in a burning building. A Christian Scientist 
entered the house through a \\indow and snatched this 
book from the flames. Instantly the table sank a charred 
mass. The covers of the book were burned up, but not 
one word in the book was effaced. If the world were in 
ashes, the contents of " Science and Health mth Key to 
the Scriptures" would remain immortal. 

It is said that the nearest approach to the sayings of 
the great Master is the Logia of Papias, written in a.d. 
145, and that all else reported as his savings are transla- 
tions. The ancient Logia, or imputed sa;>dngs of Jesus 



MESSAGES TO BRANCH CHURCHES 179 

by Papias, are undoubtedly the beginning of the gospel 
writings. The synoptic Scriptures, as set forth in the 
first and second chapters of Genesis, were in two dis- 
tinct manuscripts. The first gave an account of the 
spiritual creation, and the second was an opposite story, 
or allegory, of a material universe and man made of 
dust. In this allegorical document the power and pre- 
rogative of Spirit are submerged in matter. In other 
words, soul enters non-intelligent dust and man becomes 
both good and evil, both mind and matter, mortal and 
immortal, — all of which divine Science shows to be an 
impossibility. 

The Old and the New Testaments contain self-evident 
truths that cannot be lost, but being translations, the 
Scriptures are criticized. Some dangerous skepticism ex- 
ists as to the verification of our Master's sayings. But 
Christians and Christian Scientists know that if the Old 
Testament and gospel narratives had never been written, 
the nature of Christianity, as depicted in the life of our 
Lord, and the truth in the Scriptures, are sufficient to au- 
thenticate Christ's Christianity as the perfect ideal. The 
character of the Nazarene Prophet illustrates the Prin- 
ciple and practice of a true divinity and humanity. The 
different renderings or translations of Scripture in no 
wise affect Christian Science. Christianity and Science, 
being contingent on nothing written and based on the 
divine Principle of being, must be, are, irrefutable and 
eternal. 

We are indeed privileged in having the untranslated 
revelations of Christian Science. They afford such expo- 
sitions of the therapeutics, ethics, and Christianity of 
Christ as make even God demonstrable, the divine Love 



180 MISCELLANY 

practical, and so furnish rules whereby man can prove 
God's love, healing the sick and the sinner. 

Whosoever understands Christian Science knows beyond 
a doubt that its life-giving truths were preached and 
practised in the first century by him who proved their 
practicality, who uttered Christ's Sermon on the Mount, 
who taught his disciples the healing Christianity which 
applies to all ages, and who dated time. A spiritual 
understanding of the Scriptures restores their origi- 
nal tongue in the language of Spirit, that primordial 
standard of Truth. 

Christian Science contains no element whatever of hyp- 
notism or animal magnetism. It appeals alone to God, to 
the divine Principle, or Life, Truth, and Love, to whom 
all things are possible; and this Principle heals sin, sick- 
ness, disease, and death. Christian Science meets error 
with Truth, death with Life, hate with Love, and thus, 
and only thus, does it overcome evil and heal disease. 
The obstinate sinner, however, refuses to see this grand 
verity or to acknowledge it, for he knows not that in justice, 
as well as in mercy, God is Love. 

In our struggles with sin and sinners, when we drop 
compliance with their desires, insist on what we know is 
right, and act accordingly, the disguised or the self- 
satisfied mind, not ready to be uplifted, rebels, miscon- 
strues our best motives, and calls them unkind. But this 
is the cross. Take it up, — it wins the crown; and .in 
the spirit of our great Exemplar pray: "Father, forgive 
them; for they know not what they do." 

No warfare exists between divine theology and Christian 
Science, for the latter solves the whence and why of the 
cosmos and defines noumenon and phenomena spiritually, 



MESSAGES TO BRANCH CHURCHES 181 

not materially. The specific quest of Christian Science is 
to settle all points beyond cavil, on the Biblical basis that 
God is All-in-all ; whereas philosophy and so-called natural 
science, dealing with human hypotheses, or material cause 
and effect, are aided only at long intervals with elementary 
truths, and ultimate in unsolved problems and outgrown, 
proofless positions. 

Progress is spiritual. Progress is the maturing concep- 
tion of divine Love; it demonstrates the scientific, sinless 
life of man and mortal's painless departure from matter 
to Spirit, not through death, but through the true idea of 
Life, — and Life not in matter but in Mind. 

The Puritans possessed the motive of true religion, 
which, demonstrated on the Golden Rule, would have 
solved ere this the problem of religious liberty and human 
rights. It is "a consummation devoutly to be wished" 
that all nations shall speedily learn and practise the 
intermediate line of justice between the classes and masses 
of mankind, and thus exemplify in all things the universal 
equity of Christianity. 

Thirty years ago (1866) Christian Science was discovered 
in America. Within those years it is estimated that 
Chicago has gained from a population of 238,000 to the 
number of 1,650,000 inhabitants. 

The statistics of mortality show that thirty years ago 
the death-rate was at its maximum. Since that time it 
has steadily decreased. It is authentically said that one 
expositor of Daniel's dates fixed the year 1866 or 1867 for 
the return of Christ — the return of the spiritual idea to 
the material earth or antipode of heaven. It is a marked 
coincidence that those dates were the first two years of 
my discovery of Christian Science. 



182 MISCELLANY 

Thirty years ago Chicago had few Congregational 
churches. To-day it is said to have a majority of these 
churches over any other city in the United States. Thirty 
years ago at my request I received from the Congrega- 
tional Church a letter of dismissal and recommendation 
to evangelical churches — thenceforth to exemplify my 
early love for this church and a membership of thirty 
years by establishing a new-old church, the foundations 
of which are the same, even Christ, Truth, as the chief 
corner-stone. 

In 1884, I taught a class in Christian Science and 
formed a Christian Scientist Association in Chicago. 
From this small sowing of the seed of Truth, which, when 
sown, seemed the least among seeds, sprang immortal 
fruits through God's blessing and the faithful labor of 
loyal students, — the healing of the sick, the reforming 
of the sinner, and First Church of Christ, Scientist, with 
its large membership and majestic cathedral. 

Humbly, gratefully, trustingly, I dedicate this beauti- 
ful house of worship to the God of Israel, the divine 
Love that reigns above the shadow, that launched the 
earth in its orbit, that created and governs the universe — 
guarding, guiding, giving grace, health, and immortality 
to man. 

May the wanderer in the wilderness of mortal beliefs 
and fears turn hither with satisfied hope. May the birds 
of passage rest their weary wings amid the fair foliage of 
this vine of His husbanding, find shelter from the storm 
and a covert from the tempest. May this beloved 
church adhere to its tenets, abound in the righteousness 
of Love, honor the name of Christian Science, prove the 
practicality of perfection, and press on to the infinite 



MESSAGES TO BRANCH CHURCHES 183 

uses of Christ's creed, namely, — " Thou shalt love the 
Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, 
and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind; and 
thy neighbor as thyself." Thus may First Church of 
Christ, Scientist, in this great city of Chicago, verify what 
John Robinson wrote in 1620 to our Pilgrim Fathers: 
"When Christ reigns, and not till then, will the world 
have rest." 

First Church of Christ, Scientist, 
London, England 

Beloved Brethren across the Sea: — To-day a nation is 
born. Spiritual apprehension unfolds, transfigures, heals. 
With you be there no more sea, no ebbing faith, no night. 
Love be thy light upon the mountain of Israel. God 
will multiply thee. 

First Church of Christ, Scientist, 
Brooklyn, N. Y. 

Beloved Brethren: — I rejoice with you; the day has 
come when the forest becomes a fruitful field, and the deaf 
hear the words of the Book, and the eyes of the blind see 
out of obscurity. 

First Church of Christ, Scientist, 
Detroit, Mich. 

Beloved Students and Church: — Thanks for invitation 
to your dedication. Not afar off I am blending with 
thine my prayer and rejoicing. God is with thee. '' Arise, 
shine; for thy light is come, and the glory of the Lord is 
risen upon thee." 



184 MISCELLANY 

First Church of Christ, Scientist, 
Toronto, Canada 

My Beloved Brethren: — Have just received your des- 
patch. Since the world was, men have not heard with 
the ear, neither hath the eye seen, what God hath prepared 
for them that wait upon Him and work righteousness. 

White Mountain Church 

My Beloved Brethren: — To-day I am privileged to 
congratulate the Christian Scientists of my native State 
upon having built First Church of Christ, Scientist, at 
the White Mountains. Your kind card, inviting me to 
be present at its dedication, came when I was so occu- 
pied that I omitted to wire an acknowledgment thereof 
and to return my cordial thanks at an earlier date. The 
beautiful birch bark on which it was written pleased me; 
it was so characteristic of our Granite State, and I 
treasure it next to your compliments. That rustic scroll 
brought back to me the odor of my childhood, a love 
which stays the shadows of years. God grant that this 
little church shall prove a historic gem on the glowing 
records of Christianity, and lay upon its altars a sacrifice 
and service acceptable in God's sight. 

Your rural chapel is a social success quite sacred in its 
results. The prosperity of Zion is very precious in the 
sight of divine Love, holding unwearied watch over a 
world. Isaiah said: "How beautiful upon the mountains 
are the feet of him that bringeth good tidings, . . . that 
saith unto Zion, Thy God reigneth!" Surely, the Word 
that is God must at some time find utterance and accept- 



MESSAGES TO BRANCH CHURCHES 185 

ance throughout the earth, for he that soweth shall reap. 
To such as have waited patiently for the appearing of 
Truth, the day dawns and the harvest bells are ringing. 

" Let us, then, be up and doing. 

With a heart for any fate; 
Still achieving, still pursuing, 

Learn to labor and to wait." 

The peace of Love is published, and the sword of the 
Spirit is drawn; nor will it be sheathed till Truth shall 
reign triumphant over all the earth. Truth, Life, and 
Love are formidable, wherever thought, felt, spoken, or 
written, — in the pulpit, in the court-room, by the way- 
side, or in our homes. They are the victors never to be 
vanquished. Love is the generic term for God. Love 
formed this trinity. Truth, Life, Love, the trinity no man 
can sunder. Life is the spontaneity of Love, inseparable 
from Love, and Life is the "Lamb slain from the foun- 
dation of the world, ' — even that which "was dead, and 
is alive again; and was lost, and is found;'' for Life is 
Christ, and Christ, as aforetime, heals the sick, saves 
sinners, and destroys the last enemy, death. 

In 1888 I visited these mountains and spoke to an 
attentive audience collected in the hall at the Fabyan 
House. Then and there I foresaw this hour, and spoke 
of the little church to be in the midst of the mountains, 
closing my remarks with the words of Mrs. Hemans : — 

For the strength of the hills, we bless Thee, 
Oxu" God, our fathers' God ! 

The sons and daughters of the Granite State are rich in 
signs and symbols, sermons in stones, refuge in mountains, 



186 MISCELLANY 

and good universal. The rocks, rills, mountains, meadows, 
fountains, and forests of our native State should be 
prophetic of the finger divine that writes in living char- 
acters their lessons on our lives. May God's little ones 
cluster around this rock-ribbed church like tender nestlings 
in the crannies of the rocks, and preen their thoughts for 
upward flight. 

Though neither dome nor turret tells the tale of your 
little church, its song and sermon will touch the heart, 
point the path above the valley, up the mountain, and on 
to the celestial hills, echoing the Word welling up from 
the infinite and swelling the loud anthem of one Father- 
Mother God, o'er all victorious! Rest assured that He 
in whom dwelleth all life, health, and holiness, will supply 
all your needs according to His riches in glory. 

First Church of Christ, Scientist, 
DuLUTH, Minn. 

First Church of Christ, Scientist, Buluth, Minn. : — May 
our God make this church the fold of flocks, and may 
those that plant the vineyard eat the fruit thereof. Here 
let His promise be verified: '^ Before they call, I will 
answer; and while they are yet speaking, I will hear." 

First Church of Christ, Scientist, 
Salt Lake City, Utah 

Beloved Brethren: — Accept my thanks for your cordial 
card inviting me to be with you on the day of your church 
dedication. It gives me great pleasure to know that 
you have erected a Church of Christ, Scientist, in your 



MESSAGES TO BRANCH CHURCHES 187 

city. Surely, your fidelity, faith, and Christian zeal 
fairly indicate that, spiritually as well as literally, the 
church in Salt Lake City hath not lost its saltness. I 
may at some near future visit your city, but am too busy 
to think of doing so at present. 

May the divine light of Christian Science that lighteth 
every enlightened thought illumine your faith and under- 
standing, exclude all darkness or doubt, and signal the 
perfect path wherein to walk, the perfect Principle whereby 
to demonstrate the perfect man and the perfect law of 
God. In the words of St. Paul: "Now the end of the 
commandment is charity out of a pure heart, and of a 
good conscience, and of faith unfeigned;" and St. John 
says: "For this is the message that ye heard from the 
beginning, that we should love one another." 

May the grace and love of God be and abide with 
you all. 

Pleasant View, Concord, N. H., 
November 16, 1898. 



FiKST Church of Christ, Scientist, 
Atlanta, Georgia 

My Beloved Brethren: — You have met to conse- 
crate your beautiful temple to the worship of the only 
true God. Since the day in which you were brought into 
the light and liberty of His children, it has been in the 
hearts of this people to build a house unto Him whose 
name they would glorify in a new commandment — 
"that ye love one another." In this new recognition of 
the riches of His love and the majesty of His might you 
have built this house — laid its foundations on the rock 



188 MISCELLANY 

of Christ, and the stone which the builders rejected you 
have made the head of the corner. This house is hallowed 
by His promise : " I have hallowed this house, which thou 
hast built, to put my name there forever; and mine eyes 
and mine heart shall be there perpetually/' . "Now mine 
eyes shall be open, and mine ears attent unto the prayer 
that is made in this place." Your feast days will not be 
in commemoration, but in recognition of His presence; 
your ark of the covenant will not be brought out of the 
city of David, but out of ''the secret place of the most 
High," whereof the Psalmist sang, even the omniscience 
of omnipotence; your tabernacle of the congregation will 
not be temporary, but a "house not made with hands, 
eternal in the heavens;" your oracle, under the wings of 
the cherubim, is Truth's evangel, enunciating, "God is 
Love." 

In spirit I enter your inner sanctuary, your heart's 
heart, breathing a benediction for God's largess. He 
surely will not shut me out from your presence, and the 
ponderous walls of your grand cathedral cannot prevent 
me from entering where the heart of a Southron has 
welcomed me. 

Christian Science has a place in its court, in which, like 
beds in hospitals, one man's head lies at another's feet. 
As you work, the ages win; for the majesty of Christian 
Science teaches the majesty of man. When it is learned 
that spiritual sense and not the material senses convey all 
impressions to man, man will naturally seek the Science of 
his spiritual nature, and finding it, be God-endowed for 
discipleship. 

When divine Love gains admittance to a humble heart, 
that individual ascends the scale of miracles and meets the 



MESSAGES TO BRANCH CHURCHES 189 

warmest wish of men and angels. Clad in invincible 
armor, grasping the sword of Spirit, you have started in 
this sublime ascent, and should reach the mount of revela- 
tion; for if ye would run, who shall hinder you? So dear, 
so. due, to God is obedience, that it reaches high heaven 
in the common walks of life, and it affords even me a 
perquisite of joy. 

You worship no distant deity, nor talk of unknown 
love. The silent prayers of our churches, resounding 
through the dim corridors of time, go forth in waves of 
sound, a diapason of heart-beats, vibrating from one 
pulpit to another and from one heart to another, till 
truth and love, commingling in one righteous prayer, 
shall encircle and cement the human race. 

The government of divine Love derives its omnipotence 
from the love it creates in the heart of man; for love is 
allegiant, and there is no loyalty apart from love. When 
the human senses wake from their long slumber to see how 
soon earth's fables flee and faith grows wearisome, then 
that which defies decay and satisfies the immortal cravings 
is sought and found. In the twilight of the world's 
pageantry, in the last-drawn sigh of a glory gone, we are 
drawn towards God. 

Beloved brethren, I cannot forget that yours is the first 
church edifice of our denomination erected in the sunny 
South — once my home. There my husband died, and 
the song and the dirge, surging my being, gave expression 
to a poem written in 1844, from which I copy this verse : — 

Friends, why throng in pity round me? 

Wherefore, pray, the bell did toll? 
Dead is he who loved me dearly : 

Am I not alone in soul? 



190 MISCELLANY 

Did that midnight shadow, falHng upon the bridal 
wreath, bring the recompense of human woe, which is the 
merciful design of divine Love, and so help to evolve that 
larger sympathy for suffering humanity which is eman- 
cipating it with the morning beams and noonday glory of 
Christian Science? 

The age is fast answering this question : Does Christian 
Science equal materia medica in healing the worst forms 
of contagious and organic diseases? My experience in 
both practices — materia medica and the scientific meta- 
physical practice of medicine — shows the latter not only 
equalling but vastly excelling the former. 

Christians who accept our Master as authority, regard 
his sayings as infallible. Jesus' students, faihng to cure a 
severe case of lunacy, asked their great Teacher, "Why 
could not we cast him out?" He answered, "This kind 
goeth not out but by prayer and fasting." This declara- 
tion of our Master, as to the relative value, skill, and 
certainty of the divine laws of Mind over the human 
mind and above matter in heahng disease, remains beyond 
questioning a divine decision in behalf of Mind. 

Jesus gave his disciples (students) power over all manner 
of diseases; and the Bible was written in order that all 
peoples, in all ages, should have the same opportunity to 
become students of the Christ, Truth, and thus become 
God-endued with power (knowledge of divine law) and 
with " signs following." Jesus declared that his teaching 
and practice would remain, even as it did, "for them also 
which shall believe on me through their word." Then, 
in the name of God, wherefore vilify His prophets to-day 
who are fulfilling Jesus' prophecy and verifying his last 
promise, "Lo, I am with you alway"? It were well for 



MESSAGES TO BRANCH CHURCHES 191 

the world if there survived more of the wisdom of Nico- 
demus of old, who said, "No man can do these miracles 
that thou doest, except God be with him." 

Be patient towards persecution. Injustice has not a 
tithe of the power of justice. Your enemies will advertise 
for you. Christian Science is spreading steadily through- 
out the world. Persecution is the weakness of tyrants 
engendered by their fear, and love will cast it out. Con- 
tinue steadfast in love and good works. Children of 
light, you are not children of darkness. Let your light 
shine. Keep in mind the foundations of Christian 
Science — one God and one Christ. Keep personality 
out of sight, and Christ's "Blessed are ye" will seal your 
apostleship. 

This glad Easter morning witnesseth a risen Saviour, a 
higher human sense of Life and Love, which wipes away 
all tears. With grave-clothes laid aside, Christ, Truth, has 
come forth from the tomb of the past, clad in immortality. 
The sepulchres give up their dead. Spirit is saying unto 
matter : I am not there, am not within you. Behold the 
place where they laid me; but human thought has risen! 

Mortality's thick gloom is pierced. The stone is rolled 
away. Death has lost its sting, and the grave its victory. 
Immortal courage fills the human breast and lights the 
living way of Life. 

Second Church of Christ, Scientist, 
Chicago, III. 

My Beloved Brethren: — Your card of invitation to this 
feast of soul — the dedication of your church — was duly 
received. Accept my thanks. 



192 MISCELLANY 

Ye sit not in the idol's temple. Ye build not to an 
unknown God. Ye worship Him whom ye serve. Boast 
not thyself, thou ransomed of divine Love, but press on 
unto the possession of unburdened bliss. Heal the sick, 
make spotless the blemished, raise the living dead, cast 
out fashionable lunacy. 

The ideal robe of Christ is seamless. Thou hast touched 
its hem, and thou art being healed. The risen Christ is 
thine. The haunting mystery and gloom of his glory 
rule not this century. Thine is the upspringing hope, the 
conquest over sin and mortality, that lights the living 
way to Life, not to death. 

May the God of our fathers, the infinite Person whom 
we worship, be and abide with you. May the blessing of 
divine Love rest with you. My heart hovers around your 
churches in Chicago, for the dove of peace sits smilingly 
on these branches and sings of our Redeemer. 

First Church of Christ, Scientist, 
Los Angeles, Cal. 

Beloved Students: — Your kind letter, inviting me to 
be present at the dedication of your church, was duly 
received. It would indeed give me pleasure to visit you, 
to witness your prosperity, and "rejoice with them that 
do rejoice," but the constant recurring demands upon 
my time and attention pin me to my post. Of this, 
however, I can sing: My love can fly on wings of joy to 
you and leave a leaf of olive; it can whisper to you of 
the divine ever-presence, answering your prayers, crown- 
ing your endeavors, and building for you a house "eternal 
in the heavens." 



MESSAGES TO BRANCH CHURCHES 193 

You will dedicate your temple in faith unfeigned, not to 
the unknown God, but unto Him whom to know aright 
is life everlasting. His presence with you will bring to 
your hearts so much of heaven that you will not feel my 
absence. The privilege remains mine to watch and work 
for all, from East to West, from the greensward and 
gorgeous skies of the Orient to your dazzling glory 
in the Occident, and to thank God forever ''for His 
goodness, and for His wonderful works to the children 
of men.'' 

Pleasant View, Concord, N. H., 
November 20, 1902. 

Second Church of Christ, Scientist, 
Minneapolis, Minn. 

Beloved : — The spiritual dominates the temporal. Love 
gives nothing to take away. Nothing dethrones His 
house. You are dedicating yours to Him. Protesting 
against error, you unite with all who believe in Truth. 
God guard and guide you. 

First Church of Christ, Scientist, 
New York, N. Y. 

Beloved Brethren: — Carlyle writes, "Give a thing time; 
if it succeeds, it is a right thing." Here I aver that you 
have grasped time and labor, taking the first by the fore- 
lock and the last by love. In this lofty temple, dedicated 
to God and humanity, may the prophecy of Isaiah be 
fulfilled: "Fear not: ... I have called thee by thy 
name; thou art mine." Within its sacred walls may 



194 MISCELLANY 

song and sermon generate only that which Christianity 
writes in broad facts over great continents — sermons 
that fell forests and remove mountains, songs of joy 
and gladness. 

The letter of your work dies, as do all things material, 
but the spirit of it is immortal. Remember that a temple 
but foreshadows the idea of God, the "house not made 
with hands, eternal in the heavens," while a silent, grand 
man or woman, healing sickness and destroying sin, 
builds that which reaches heaven. Only those men and 
women gain greatness who gain themselves in a complete 
subordination of self. 

The tender memorial engraven on your grand edifice 
stands for human self lost in divine light, melted into the 
radiance of His likeness. It stands for meekness and 
might, for Truth as attested by the Founder of your 
denomination and emblazoned on the fair escutcheon of 
your church. 

Beloved Students: — Your telegram, in which you pre- 
sent to me the princely gift of your magnificent church 
edifice in New York City, is an unexpected token of your 
gratitude and love. I deeply appreciate it, profoundly 
thank you for it, and gratefully accept the spirit of it; 
but I must decline to receive that for which you have 
sacrificed so much and labored so long. May divine 
Love abundantly bless you, reward you according to 
your works, guide and guard you and your church 
through the depths; and may you 

"Who stood the storm when seas were rough, 
Ne'er in a sunny hour fall off." 



MESSAGES TO BRANCH CHURCHES 195 

First Church of Christ, Scientist, 
Cleveland, Ohio 

Beloved Brethren: — You will pardon my delay in 
acknowledging your card of invitation to the dedicatory 
services of your church. Adverse circumstances, loss of 
help, new problems to be worked out for the field, etc., 
have hitherto prevented my reply. However, it is never 
too late to repent, to love more, to work more, to watch 
and pray; but those privileges I have not had time to 
express, and so have submitted to necessity, letting the 
deep love which I cherished for you be hidden under an 
appearance of indifference. 

We must resign with good grace what we are denied, and 
press on with what we are, for we cannot do more than we 
are nor understand what is not ripening in us. To do 
good to all because we love all, and to use in God's service 
the one talent that we all have, is our only means of 
adding to that talent and the best way to silence a deep 
discontent with our shortcomings. 

Christian Science is at length learned to be no miserable 
piece of ideal legerdemain, by which we poor mortals ex- 
pect to live and die, but a deep-drawn breath fresh from 
God, by whom and in whom man lives, moves, and has 
deathless being. The praiseworthy success of this church, 
and its united efforts to build an edifice in which to worship 
the infinite, sprang from the temples erected first in the 
hearts of its members — the unselfed love that builds 
without hands, eternal in the heaven of Spirit. God 
grant that this unity remain, and that you continue to 
build, rebuild, adorn, and fill these spiritual temples with 
grace, Truth, Life, and Love. 



196 MISCELLANY 

First Church of Christ, Scientist, 
Pittsburgh, Pa. 

My Beloved Brethren : — I congratulate you upon erect- 
ing the first edifice of our denomination in the Keystone 
State, a State whose metropoHs is called the "city of 
brotherly love." May this dear church militant accept 
my tender counsel in these words of the Scripture, to be 
engrafted in church and State : — 

" Let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to 
wrath." "He that is slow to anger is better than the 
mighty; and he that ruleth his spirit than he that taketh 
a city." "If any man offend not in word, the same is 
a perfect man, and able also to bridle the whole body." 
"By thy words thou shalt be condemned." "Love thy 
neighbor as thyself." 

"Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, 
that [we] should follow his steps : . . . who, when he was 
reviled, reviled not again ; when he suffered, he threatened 
not; but committed himself to Him that judgeth right- 
eously." " Consider him that endured such contradiction 
of sinners against himself, lest ye be wearied and faint in 
your minds." 

First Church of Christ, Scientist, 
St. Louis, Mo. 

My Beloved Brethren : — The good in being, even the 
spiritually indispensable, is your daily bread. Work and 
pray for it. The poor toil for our bread, and we should 
work for their health and holiness. Over the glaciers of 
winter the summer glows. The beauty of holiness comes 



MESSAGES TO BRANCH CHURCHES 197 

with the departure of sin. Enjoying good things is 
not evil, but becoming slaves to pleasure is. That error 
is most forcible which is least distinct to conscience. 
Attempt nothing without God's help. 

May the beauty of holiness be upon this dear people, 
and may this beloved church be glorious, without spot 
or blemish. 

First Church of Christ, Scientist, 
San Jose, Cal. 

Beloved Students: — Words are inadequate to express 
my deep appreciation of your labor and success in com- 
pleting and dedicating your church edifice, and of the 
great hearts and ready hands of our far Western students, 
the Christian Scientists. 

Comparing such students with those whose words 
are but the substitutes for works, we learn that the 
translucent atmosphere of the former must illumine the 
midnight of the latter, else Christian Science will dis- 
appear from among mortals. 

I thank divine Love for the hope set before us in the 
Word and in the doers thereof, " for of such is the kingdom 
of heaven." 

First Church of Christ, Scientist, 
Wilmington, N. C. 

My Beloved Brethren : — At this dedicatory season of 
your church edifice in the home of my heart, I send lov- 
ing congratulations, join with you in song and sermon. 
God will bless the work of your hearts and hands. 

Pleasant View, Concord, N. H., 
July 27, 1907. 



198 MISCELLANY 

First Church of Christ, Scientist, 
London, England 

Beloved Students and Brethren: — Your letters of May 1 
and June 19, informing me of the dedication of your 
magnificent church edifice, have been received ^dth many 
thanks to you and great gratitude to our one Father. 

May God grant not only the continuance of His favors, 
but their abundant and ripened fruit. 

Chestnut Hill, Mass., 
June 26, 1909. 



CHAPTER IX 

LETTERS TO BRANCH CHURCHES 

First Church of Christ, Scientist, 
Philadelphia, Pa. 

MY Beloved Students and Brethren: — I rejoice 
with thee. Blessed art thou. In place of dark- 
ness, light hath sprung up. The reward of thy hands 
is given thee to-day. May God say this of the church 
in Philadelphia: I have naught against thee. 

First Church of Christ, Scientist, 
Washington, D. C. 

Beloved Brethren: — The Board of Directors and 
Trustees of this church will please accept my grateful 
acknowledgment of the receipt of their Christian canon 
pertaining to the hour. The joint resolutions contained 
therein show explicitly the attitude of this church in our 
capital towards me and towards the Cause of Christian 
Science, so dear to our hearts and to all loyal lovers of 
God and man. 

This year, standing on the verge of the twentieth cen- 
tury, has sounded the tocsin of a higher hope, of strength- 
ened hands, of unveiled hearts, of fourfold unity between 
the churches of our denomination in this and in other 

199 



200 MISCELLANY 

lands. Religious liberty and individual rights under the 
Constitution of our nation are rapidly advancing, avow- 
ing and consolidating the genius of Christian Science. 

Heaven be praised for the signs of the times. Let "the 
heathen rage, and the people imagine a vain thing; '^ our 
trust is in the Almighty God, who ruleth in heaven and 
upon earth, and none can stay His hand or say, "What 
doest thou?" 

First Church of Christ, Scientist, 
London, England 

My Beloved Brethren : — The chain of Christian unity, 
unbroken, stretches across the sea and rises upward to the 
realms of incorporeal Life — even to the glorious beati- 
tudes of divine Love. Striving to be good, to do good, and 
to love our neighbor as ourself, man's soul is safe; man 
emerges from mortality and receives his rights inalienable 
— the love of God and man. What holds us to the Chris- 
tian life is the seven-fold shield of honesty, purity, and 
unselfed love. I need not say this to you, for you know 
the way in Christian Science. 

Pale, sinful sense, at work to lift itself on crumbling 
thrones of justice by pulling down its benefactors, 
will tumble from this scheme into the bottomless 
abyss of self-damnation, there to relinquish its league 
with evil. Wide yawns the gap between this course 
and Christian Science. 

God spare this plunge, lessen its depths, save sin- 
ners and fit their being to recover its connection with 
its divine Principle, Love. For this I shall continue to 
pray. 



LETTERS TO BRANCH CHURCHES 201 

God is blessing you, my beloved students and breth- 
ren. Press on towards the high calling whereunto 
divine Love has called us and is fast fulfilling the 
promises. 

Satan is unchained only for a season, as the Revelator 
foresaw, and love and good will to man, sweeter than a 
sceptre, are enthroned now and forever. 

First Church of Christ, Scientist, 
New York, N. Y. 

My Beloved Brethren: — Your Soul-full words and song 
repeat my legacies in blossom.. Such elements of friend- 
ship, faith, and hope repossess us of heaven. I thank 
you out of a full heart. Even the crown of thorns, which 
mocked the bleeding brow of our blessed Lord, was over- 
crowned with a diadem of duties done. So let us meekly 
meet, mercifully forgive, wisely ponder, and lovingly 
scan the convulsions of mortal mind, that its sudden 
sallies may help us, not to a start, but to a tenure of 
unprecarious joy. Rich hope have I in him who says in 
his heart: — 

I will listen for Thy voice, 

Lest my footsteps stray; 
I will follow and rejoice 

All the rugged way. 

Second Church of Christ, Scientist, 
New York, N. Y. 

Beloved Brethren: — Please accept a line from me in lieu 
of my presence on the auspicious occasion of the open- 
ing of your new church edifice. Hope springs exultant 



202 MISCELLANY 

on this blest morn. May its white wings overshadow this 
white temple and soar above it, pointing the path from 
earth to heaven — from human ambition, fear, or distrust 
to the faith, meekness, and might of him who hallowed 
this Easter morn. 

Now may his salvation draw near, for the night is far 
spent and the day is at hand. In the words of St. Paul : 
"Render therefore to all their dues: tribute to whom 
tribute is due; custom to whom custom; . . . honor to 
whom honor. Owe no man any thing, but to love one 
another: for he that loveth another hath fulfilled the 
law." 

May the benediction of "Well done, good and faithful,'' 
rest worthily on the builders of this beautiful temple, and 
the glory of the resurrection morn burst upon the spiritual 
sense of this people with renewed vision, infinite mean- 
ings, endless hopes, and glad victories in the onward and 
upward chain of being. 

First Church of Christ, Scientist, 
Oakland, Cal. 

Beloved Brethren: — I thank you for the words of cheer 
and love in your letter. The taper unseen in sunlight 
cheers the darkness. My work is reflected light, — a 
drop from His ocean of love, from the underived glory, 
the divine Esse. From the dear tone of your letter, 
you must be bringing your sheaves into the store- 
house. Press on. The way is narrow at first, but it 
expands as we walk in it. "Herein is my Father glori- 
fied, that ye bear much fruit." God bless this vine of 
His planting. 



LETTERS TO BRANCH CHURCHES 203 

First Church of Christ, Scientist, 
Washington, D. C. 

Beloved Brethren: — I have nothing new to communi- 
cate; all is in your textbooks. Pray aright and demon- 
strate your prayer; sing in faith. Know that religion 
should be distinct in our consciousness and life, but not 
clamorous for worldly distinction. Church laws which 
are obeyed without mutiny are God's laws. Goodness 
and philanthropy begin with work and never stop working. 
All that is worth reckoning is what we do, and the best of 
everything is not too good, but is economy and riches. 
Be great not as a grand obelisk, nor by setting up to be 
great, — only as good. A spiritual hero is a mark for 
gamesters, but he is unutterably valiant, the summary of 
suffering here and of heaven hereafter. Our thoughts 
beget our actions; they make us what we are. Dis- 
honesty is a mental malady which kills its possessor; it 
is a sure precursor that its possessor is mortal. A deep 
sincerity is sure of success, for God takes care of it. God 
bless this dear church, and I am sure that He will if it is 
ready for the blessing. 

First Church of Christ, Scientist, 
London, England 

Beloved Students : — You have laid the corner-stone of 
your church edifice impressively, and buried immortal 
truths in the bosom of earth safe from all chance of being 
challenged. 

You whose labors are doing so much to benefit mankind 
will not be impatient if you have not accomplished all you 



204 MISCELLANY 

desire, nor will you be long in doing more. My faith in 
God and in His followers rests in the fact that He is infinite 
good, and that He gives His followers opportunity to use 
their hidden virtues, to put into practice the power which 
lies concealed in the calm and which storms awaken to 
vigor and to victory. 

It is only by looking heavenward that mutual friend- 
ships such as ours can begin and never end. Over sea 
and over land. Christian Science unites its true followers 
in one Principle, divine Love, that sacred ave and essence 
of Soul which makes them one in Christ. 

First Church of Christ, Scientist, 
Columbus, Ohio 

In Reply to a Letter Announcing the Purpose of the 
Christian Scientists to Practise without Fees in Com- 
pliance WITH the State Laws 

Beloved Brethren : — I congratulate you tenderly on the 
decision you have made as to the present practice of 
Christian Science in your State, and thoroughly recom- 
mend it under the circumstances. I practised gratui- 
tously when starting this great Cause, which was then the 
scoff of the age. 

The too long treatment of a disease, the charging of 
the sick whom you have not healed a full fee for treat- 
ment, the suing for payment, hypnotism, and the resent- 
ing of injuries, are not the fruits of Christian Science, 
while returning good for evil, loving one's enemies, and 
overcoming evil with good, — these are its fruits; 
and its therapeutics, based as aforetime on this divine 
Principle, heals all disease. 



LETTERS TO BRANCH CHURCHES 205 

We read in the Scriptures : " There is therefore now no 
condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk 
not after the flesh, but after the Spirit." "Stand fast 
therefore in the Hberty wherewith Christ hath made us 
free." "Be ye therefore wise as serpents, and harmless 
as doves." 

Wisdom is won through faith, prayer, experience; and 
God is the giver. 

"God moves in a mysterious way 

His wonders to perform; 
He plants His footsteps in the sea 

And rides upon the storm." 

Third Church of Christ, Scientist, 
London, England 

Beloved Brethren : — Love and unity are hieroglyphs of 
goodness, and their philosophical impetus, spiritual 
^sculapius and Hygeia, saith, ''As the thought is, so is the 
deed; as the thing made is good or bad, so is its maker." 
This idealism connects itself with spiritual understanding, 
and so makes God more supreme in consciousness, man 
more His likeness, friends more faithful, and enemies 
harmless. Scholastic theology at its best touches but the 
hem of Christian Science, shorn of all personality, wholly 
apart from human hypotheses, matter, creed and dogma, 
the lust of the flesh and the pride of power. Christian 
Science is the full idea of its divine Principle, God; it is 
forever based on Love, and it is demonstrated by perfect 
rules; it is unerring. Hence health, holiness, immortality, 
are its natural effects. The practitioner may fail, but the 
Science never. 



206 MISCELLANY 

Philosophical links, which would unite dead mat- 
ter with animate, Spirit with matter and material 
means, prayer with power and pride of position, hinder 
the di\'ine influx and lose Science, — lose the Principle 
of divine metaphysics and the tender grace of spiritual 
understanding, that love-linked holiness which heals 
and saves. 

Schisms, imagination, and human beliefs are not 
parts of Christian Science; they darken the discern- 
ment of Science; they divide Truth's garment and cast 
lots for it. 

Seeing a man in the moon, or seeing a person in the 
picture of Jesus, or belie\'ing that you see an indi\ddual 
who has passed through the shadow called death, is 
not seeing the spiritual idea of God; but it is seeing 
a human belief, which is far from the fact that portrays 
Life, Truth, Love. 

May these words of the Scriptures comfort you: ^^The 
Lord shall be unto thee an everlasting light, and thy God 
thy glory." *'The city had no need of the sun, neither 
of the moon, to shine in it: for the glory of God did 
lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof." "Ye 
are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy 
nation, a peculiar people; that ye should show forth the 
praises of Him who hath called you out of darkness into 
His marvellous light." "Gi\dng thanks unto the Father, 
which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inherit- 
ance of the saints in light: who hath delivered us from 
the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the 
kingdom of His dear Son." "Ye were sometimes dark- 
ness, but now are ye light in the Lord: walk as children 
of Ught." 



LETTERS TO BRANCH CHURCHES 207 

First Church of Christ, Scientist, 
Milwaukee, Wis. 

Beloved Brethren : — Your communication is gratefully 
received. Press on ! The wrath of men shall praise God, 
and the remainder thereof He will restrain. 

A Telegram and Mrs. Eddy's Reply 

Beloved Leader: — The representatives of churches and 
societies of Christian Science in Missouri, in annual 
conference assembled, unite in loving greetings to you, 
and pledge themselves to strive more earnestly, day 
by day, for the clearer understanding and more perfect 
manifestation of the truth which you have unfolded to 
the world, and by which sin and sickness are destroyed 
and life and immortality brought to light. 
Yours in loving obedience. 
Churches and Societies of Christian 

Science in Missouri. 
St. Joseph, Missouri, 
January 5, 1909. 

MRS. eddy's reply 

" Well done, thou good and faithful servant : . . . enter 
thou into the joy of thy lord " — the satisfaction of 
meeting and mastering evil and defending good, thus 
predicating man upon divine Science. (See Science 
and Health, p. 227.) 

Chestnut Hill, Mass., 
January 6, 1909. 



208 MISCELLANY 

First Church of Christ, Scientist, 
Sydney, Australia 

Beloved Brethren: — Accept my deep thanks for your 
highly interesting letter. It would seem as if the whole 
import of Christian Science had been mirrored forth by 
your loving hearts, to reflect its heavenly rays over all the 
earth. 

Box G, Brookline, Mass., 
July 15, 1909. 

First Church of Christ, Scientist, 
Edinburgh, Scotland 

Beloved Christian Scientists: — Like the gentle dews of 
heaven and the refreshing breeze of morn, comes your 
dear letter to my waiting heart, — waiting in due expec- 
tation of just such blessedness, crowning the hope and 
hour of divine Science, than which nothing can exceed 
its ministrations of God to man. 

I congratulate you on the prospect of erecting a church 
building, wherein to gather in praise and prayer for the 
whole human family. 

Box G, Brookline, Mass., 
November 2, 1909. 

The Committees in Conference, Chicago, III. 

The Committees: — God bless the. courageous, far-seeing 
committees in conference for their confidence in His 
ways and means of reaching the very acme of Christian 
Science. 



LETTERS TO BRANCH CHURCHES 209 

Comment on Letter from First Church of Christ, 
Scientist, Ottawa, Ontario 

God will abundantly bless this willing and obedient 
church with the rich reward of those that seek and serve 
Him. No greater hope have we than in right thinking 
and right acting, and faith in the blessing of fidelity, 
courage, patience, and grace. 



CHAPTER X 
ADMONITION AND COUNSEL 

What Ouk Leader Says 

BELOVED Christian Scientists, keep your minds so 
filled with' Truth and Love, that sin, disease, and 
death cannot enter them. It is plain that nothing can 
be added to the mind already full. There is no door 
through which evil can enter, and no space for evil to fill 
in a mind filled with goodness. Good thoughts are an 
impervious armor; clad therewith you are completely 
shielded from the attacks of error of every sort. And not 
only yourselves are safe, but all whom your thoughts rest 
upon are thereby benefited. 

The self-seeking pride of the evil thinker injures him 
when he would harm others. Goodness involuntarily 
resists evil. The evil thinker is the proud talker and 
doer. The right thinker abides under the shadow of the 
Almighty. His thoughts can only reflect peace, good will 
towards men, health, and holiness.^ 

Ways that are Vain 

Certain individuals entertain the notion that Chris- 
tian Science Mind-healing should be two-sided, and only 
denounce error in general, — saying nothing, in particu- 

1 Copyright, 1909, by Mary Baker Eddy. 
210 



WAYS THAT ARE VAIN 211 

lar, of error that is damning men. They are sticklers 
for a false, convenient peace, straining at gnats and 
swallowing camels. The unseen wrong to individuals 
and society they are too cowardly, too ignorant, or too 
wicked to uncover, and excuse themselves by denying 
that this evil exists. This mistaken way, of hiding sin 
in order to maintain harmony, has licensed evil, allowing 
it first to smoulder, and then break out in devouring 
flames. All that error asks is to be let alone; even as 
in Jesus' time the unclean spirits cried out, " Let us 
alone; what have we to do with thee? " 

Animal magnetism, in its ascending steps of evil, 
entices its victim by unseen, silent arguments. Revers- 
ing the modes of good, in their silent allurements to 
health and holiness, it impels mortal mind into error of 
thought, and tempts into the committal of acts foreign 
to the natural inclinations. The victims lose their 
individuality, and lend themselves as willing tools to 
carry out the designs of their worst enemies, even those 
who would induce their self-destruction. Animal mag- 
netism fosters suspicious distrust where honor is due, fear 
where courage should be strongest, reliance where there 
should be avoidance, a belief in safety where there is 
most danger; and these miserable lies, poured constantly 
into his mind, fret and confuse it, spoiling that indi- 
viduaFs disposition, undermining his health, and sealing 
his doom, unless the cause of the mischief is found out 
and destroyed. 

Other minds are made dormant by it, and the victim 
is in a state of semi-individuality, with a mental hazi- 
ness which admits of no intellectual culture or spiritual 
growth. The state induced by this secret evil influence 



212 MISCELLANY 

is a species of intoxication^ in which the victim is led to 
believe and do what he would never, otherwise, think 
or do voluntarily. 

This intricate method of animal magnetism is the 
essence, or spirit, of evil, which makes mankind drunken. 
In this era it is taking the place of older and more open 
sins, and other forms of intoxication. A harder fight 
will be necessary to expose the cause and effects of 
this evil influence, than has been required to put down 
the evil effects of alcohol. The alcoholic habit is the 
use of higher forms of matter, wherewith to do evil; 
whereas animal magnetism is the highest form of mental 
evil, wherewith to complete the sum total of sin. 

The question is often asked. Why is there so much 
dissension among mental practitioners? We answer, 
Because they do not practise in strict accordance with 
the teaching of Christian Science Mind-healing. If they 
did, there would be unity of action. Being like the 
disciples of old, ^'with one accord in one place,'' they 
would receive a spiritual influx impossible under other 
conditions, and so would .recognize and resist the 
animal magnetism by which they are being deceived 
and misled. 

The mental malpractitioner, interfering with the 
rights of Mind, destroys the true sense of Science, and 
loses his own power to heal. He tries to compensate 
himself for his own loss by hindering in every way con- 
ceivable the success of others. You will find this prac- 
titioner saying that animal magnetism never troubles 
him, but that Mrs. Eddy teaches animal magnetism; 
and he says this to cover his crime of mental malprac- 
tice, in furtherance of unscrupulous designs. 



ONLY ONE QUOTATION 213 

The natural fruits of Christian Science Mind-heaHng 
are harmony, brotherly love, spiritual growth and 
activity. The malicious aim of perverted mind-power, 
or animal magnetism, is to paralyze good and give 
activity to evil. It starts factions and engenders envy 
and hatred, but as activity is by no means a right of 
evil and its emissaries, they ought not to be encouraged 
in it. Because this age is cursed with one rancorous 
and lurking " foe to human weal, those who are the 
truest friends of mankind, and conscientious in their 
desire to do right and to live pure and Christian lives, 
should be more zealous to do good, more watchful and 
vigilant. Then they will be proportionately successful 
and bring out glorious results. 

Unless one's eyes are opened to the modes of mental 
malpractice, working so subtly that we mistake its sug- 
gestions for the impulses of our own thought, the victim 
will allow himself to drift in the wrong direction with- 
out knowing it. Be ever on guard against this enemy. 
Watch your thoughts, and see whether they lead you 
to God and into harmony with His true followers. 
Guard and strengthen your own citadel more strongly. 
Thus you will grow wiser and better through every 
attack of your foe, and the Golden Rule will not rust 
for lack of use or be misinterpreted by the adverse 
in£uence of animal magnetism. 

Only One Quotation 

The following three quotations from "Science and 
Health with Key to the Scriptures" are submitted 
to the dear Churches of Christ, Scientist. From these 



214 MISCELLANY 

they may select one only to place on the walls of their 
church. Otherwise, as our churches multiply, promiscu- 
ous selections would write your textbook on the walls of 
your churches. 

Divine Love always has met and always will meet every 
human need. 

Mary Baker Eddy. 

Christianity is again demonstrating the Life that is 
Truth, and the Truth that is Life. 

Mary Baker Eddy. 

Jesus' three days' work in the sepulchre set the seal 
of eternity on time. He proved Life to be deathless and 
Love to be the master of hate. 

Mary Baker Eddy. 

The Laborer and his Hire 

In reply to letters questioning the consistency of 
Christian Scientists taking pay for their labors, and with 
the hope of relieving the questioners' perplexity, I will say : 
Four years after my discovery of Christian Science, while 
taking no remuneration for my labors, and for healing all 
manner of diseases, I was confronted with the fact that I 
had no monetary means left wherewith to hire a hall in 
which to speak, or to establish a Christian Science home 
for indigent students, which I yearned to do, or even to 
meet my own current expenses. I therefore halted from 
necessity. 

I had cast my all into the treasury of Truth, but where 
were the means with which to carry on a Cause? To 
desert the Cause never occurred to me, but nobody 



THE LABORER AND HIS HIRE 215 

then wanted Christian Science, or gave it a halfpenny. 
Though sorely oppressed, I was above begging and 
knew well the priceless worth of what had been bestowed 
without money or price. Just then God stretched forth 
His hand. He it was that bade me do what I did, 
and it prospered at every step. I wrote "Science and 
Health with Key to the Scriptures," taught students for 
a tuition of three hundred dollars each, though I seldom 
taught without having charity scholars, sometimes a 
dozen or upward in one class. Afterwards, with touch- 
ing tenderness, those very students sent me the full 
tuition money. However, I returned this money with 
love; but it was again mailed to me in letters begging 
me to accept it, saying, " Your teachings are worth much 
more to me than money can be." 

It was thus that I earned the means with which to start 
a Christian Science home for the poor worthy student, to 
establish a Metaphysical College, to plant our first maga- 
zine, to purchase the site for a church edifice, to give my 
church The Christian Science Journal, and to keep "the 
wolves in sheep's clothing," preying upon my pearls, from 
clogging the wheels of Christian Science. 

When the great Master first sent forth his students, he 
bade them take no scrip for their journey, saying, "The 
laborer is worthy of his hire." Next, on the contrary, 
he bade them take scrip. Can we find a better example 
for our lives than that of our Master? Why did he send 
forth his students first without, and then with, provision 
for their expenses? Doubtless to test the effect of both 
methods on mankind. That he preferred the latter is 
evident, since we have no hint of his changing this direc- 
tion; and that his divine wisdom should temper human 



216 MISCELLANY 

affairs, is plainly set forth in the Scriptures. Till Christian 
Scientists give all their time to spiritual things, live without 
eating, and obtain their money from a fish's mouth, they 
must earn it in order to help mankind with it. All sys- 
tems of religion stand on this basis. 

The law and the gospel, — Christian, civil, and educa- 
tional means, — manufacture, agriculture, tariff, and 
revenue subsist on demand and supply, regulated by a 
government currency, by which each is provided for and 
maintained. What, then, can a man do with truth 
and without a cent to sustain it? Either his life must 
be a miracle that frightens people, or his truth not 
worth a cent. 

The Children Contributors 

My Beloved Children: — Tenderly thanking you for 
your sweet industry and love on behalf of the room 
of the Pastor Emeritus in The First Church of Christ, 
Scientist, Boston, I say: The purpose of God to you- 
ward indicates another field of work which I present to 
your thought, work by which you can do much good and 
which is adapted to your present unfolding capacity. I 
request that from this date you disband as a society, 
drop the insignia of "Busy Bees," work in your owti sev- 
eral localities, and no longer contribute to The Mother 
Church flower fund. 

As you grow older, advance in the knowledge of self- 
support, and see the need of self-culture, it is to be expected 
you will feel more than at present that charity begins at 
home, and that you will want money for your own uses. 
Contemplating these important wants, I see that you 
should begin now to earn for a purpose even higher, the 



A CORRECTION 217 

money that you expend for flowers. You will want it for 
academics, for your own school education, or, if need be, 
to help your parents, brothers, or sisters. 

Further to encourage your early, generous incentive 
for action, and to reward your hitherto unselfish toil, I 
have deeded in trust to The Mother Church of Christ, 
Scientist, in Boston, the sum of four thousand dollars 
to be invested in safe municipal bonds for my dear chil- 
dren contributors to the room of the Pastor Emeritus. 
This sum is to remain on interest till it is disbursed in 
equal shares to each contributor. This disbursal will 
take place when the contributors shall have arrived at 
legal age, and each contributor will receive his divi- 
dend with interest thereon up to date, provided he has 
complied with my request as above named. 

A Correction 

In the last Sentinel [Oct. 12, 1899] was the following 
question: "If all matter is unreal, why do we deny the 
existence of disease in the material body and not the body 
itself?" 

We deny first the existence of disease, because we can 
meet this negation more readily than we can negative all 
that the material senses affirm. It is written in " Science 
and Health with Key to the Scriptures": "An improved 
belief is one step out of error, and aids in taking the 
next step and in understanding the situation in Christian 
Science" (p. 296). 

Thus it is that our great Exemplar, Jesus of Nazareth, 
first takes up the subject. He does not require the last 
step to be taken first. He came to the world not to 
destroy the law of being, but to fulfil it in righteousness. 



218 MISCELLANY 

He restored the diseased body to its normal action, 
functions, and organization, and in explanation of his 
deeds he said, "Suffer it to be so now: for thus it be- 
cometh us to fulfil all righteousness." Job said, "In 
my flesh shall I see God." Neither the Old nor the New 
Testament furnishes reasons or examples for the destruc- 
tion of the human body, but for its restoration to life 
and health as the scientific proof of "God with us." 
The power and prerogative of Truth are to destroy all 
disease and to raise the dead — even the self -same 
Lazarus. The spiritual body, the incorporeal idea, came 
with the ascension. 

Jesus demonstrated the divine Principle of Christian 
Science when he presented his material body absolved 
from death and the grave. The introduction of pure 
abstractions into Christian Science, without their correl- 
atives, leaves the divine Principle of Christian Science 
unexplained, tends to confuse the mind of the reader, and 
ultimates in what Jesus denounced, namely, straining 
at gnats and swallowing camels. 

Question Answered 

A fad of belief is the fool of mesmerism. The belief 
that an individual can either teach or heal by proxy is a 
false faith that will end bitterly. My published works are 
teachers and healers. My private life is given to a serv- 
itude the fruit of which all mankind may share. Such 
labor is impartial, meted out to one no more than to 
another. Therefore an individual should not enter the 
Massachusetts Metaphysical College with the expecta- 
tion of receiving instruction from me, other than that 



CHRISTIAN SCIENCE HEALING 219 

which my books afford, unless I am personally present. 
Nor should patients anticipate being helped by me through 
some favored student. Such practice would be erro- 
neous, and such an anticipation on the part of the sick a 
hindrance rather than help. 

My good students have all the honor of their success 
in teaching or in healing. I by no means would pluck 
their plumes. Human power is most properly used in 
preventing the occasion for its use; otherwise its use 
is abuse. 

Christian Science Healing 

To say that it is sin to ride to church on an electric 
car, would not be more preposterous than to believe 
that man's Maker is not equal to the destruction of disease 
germs. Christ, Truth, the ever-present spiritual idea, 
who raises the dead, is equal to the giving of life and health 
to man and to the healing, as aforetime, of all manner of 
diseases. I would not charge Christians with doubting 
the Bible record of our great Master's life of healing, since 
Christianity must be predicated of what Christ Jesus 
taught and did ; but I do say that Christian Science cannot 
annul nor make void the laws of the land, since Christ, 
the great demonstrator of Christian Science, said, " Think 
not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: 
I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil." 

I have expressed my opinion publicly as to the pre- 
cautions against the spread of so-called infectious and 
contagious diseases in the following words : — 

" Rather than quarrel over vaccination, I recommend, if 
the law demand, that an individual submit to this process, 
that he obey the law, and then appeal to the gospel to 



220 MISCELLANY 

save him from bad physical results. ^^Tiatever changes 
come to this century or to any epoch, we may safely 
submit to the providence of God, to common justice, to 
the maintenance of individual rights, and to govern- 
mental usages. This statement should be so interpreted 
as to apply, on the basis of Christian Science, to the 
reporting of a contagious case to the proper authorities 
when the law so requires. When Jesus was questioned 
concerning obedience to human law, he replied : ' Render 
to Caesar the things that are Caesar's,' even while you 
render *to God the things that are God's."' 

I believe in obeying the laws of the land. I practise and 
teach this obedience, since justice is the moral signification 
of law. Injustice denotes the absence of law. Each day 
I pray for the pacification of all national difficulties, for 
the brotherhood of man, for the end of idolatry and 
infidelity, and for the growth and establishment of 
Christian religion — Christ's Christianity. I also have 
faith that my prayer availeth, and that He w^ho is 
overturning will overturn until He whose right it is shall 
reign. Each day I pray: "God bless my enemies; make 
them Thy friends; give them to know the joy and the 
peace of love." 

Past, present, or future philosophy or religion, which 
departs from the instructions and example of the great 
Galilean Prophet, cannot be Christlike. Jesus obeyed 
human laws and fell a victim to those laws. But nineteen 
centuries have greatly improved human nature and 
human statutes. That the innocent should suffer for the 
guilty, seems less divine, and that humanity should share 
alike liberty of conscience, seems more divine to-day than 
it did yesterday. 



CHRISTIAN SCIENCE HEALING 221 

The earthly price of spirituality in religion and medicine 
in a material age is persecution, and the moral distance 
between Christianity and materialism precludes Jesus' 
doctrine, now as then, from finding favor with certain 
purely human views. The prophets of old looked for 
something higher than the systems and practices of their 
times. They foresaw the new dispensation of Truth 
and the demonstration of God in His more infinite 
meanings, — the demonstration which was to destroy sin, 
disease, and death, establish the definition of omnipotence, 
and illustrate the Science of Mind. Earth has not known 
another so great and good as Christ Jesus. Then can 
we find a better moral philosophy, a more complete, 
natural, and divine Science of medicine, or a better 
religion than his? 

God is Spirit. Then modes of healing, other than the 
spiritual and divine, break the First Commandment of 
the Decalogue, "Thou shalt have no other gods before 
me." There are no other heaven-appointed means than 
the spiritual with which to heal sin and disease. Our 
Master conformed to this law, and instructed his follow- 
ers, saying, "He that belie veth on me, the works that I 
do shall he do also." This is enough. 

All issues of morality, of Christianity, of pleasure, or of 
pain must come through a correct or incorrect state 
of thought, since matter is not conscious; then, like a 
watchman forsaking his post, shall we have no faith in 
God, in the divine Mind, thus throwing the door wide 
open to the intruding disease, forgetting that the divine 
Mind, Truth and Life, can guard the entrance? 

We earnestly ask : Shall we not believe the Scripture, 
"The prayer of faith shall save the sick"? In the seven- 



222 MISCELLANY 

teenth chapter of the Gospel according to St. Matthew, 
we read that even the disciples of Jesus once failed mentally 
to cure by their faith and understanding a violent case of 
lunacy. And because of this Jesus rebuked them, saying : 
"0 faithless and perverse generation, how long shall I be 
with you? how long shall I suffer you? bring him hither to 
me." When his disciples asked him why they could not 
heal that case, Jesus, the master Metaphysician, answered, 
"Because of your unbelief" (lack of faith); and then 
continued: "If ye have faith as a grain of mustard 
seed, ye shall say unto this mountain. Remove hence 
to yonder place; and it shall remove." Also he added: 
"This kind goeth not out but by prayer and fasting" 
(refraining from admitting the claims of the senses). 
Even in those dark days Jesus was not arrested and 
executed (for "insanity") because of his faith and 
his great demands on the faith of his followers, but 
he was arrested because, as was said, "he stirreth 
up the people." Be patient, O Christian Scientist! 
It is well that thou canst unloose the sandals of thy 
Master's feet. 

The Constitution of the United States does not provide 
that materia medica shall make laws to regulate man's 
religion; rather does it imply that religion shall permeate 
our laws. Mankind will be God-governed in proportion 
as God's government becomes apparent, the Golden Rule 
utilized, and the rights of man and the liberty of conscience 
held sacred. Meanwhile, they who name the name of 
Christian Science will assist in the holding of crime in 
check, will aid the ejection of error, will maintain law 
and order, and will cheerfully await the end — justice and 
judgment. 



A WORD TO THE WISE 223 

Rules of Conduct 

I hereby notify the pubhc that no comers are received 
at Pleasant View without previous appointment by letter. 
Also that I neither listen to complaints, read letters, nor 
dictate replies to letters which pertain to church diffi- 
culties outside of The Mother Church of Christ, Scientist, 
or to any class of individual discords. Letters from the 
sick are not read by me or by my secretaries. They 
should be sent to the Christian Science practitioners 
whose cards are in The Christian Science Journal. 

Letters and despatches from individuals with whom I 
have no acquaintance and of whom I have no knowl- 
edge, containing questions about secular affairs, I do 
not answer. First, because I have not sufficient time to 
waste on them; second, because I do not consider myself 
capable of instructing persons in regard to that of which 
I know nothing. All such questions are superinduced by 
wrong motives or by "evil suggestions," either of which 
I do not entertain. 

All inquiries, coming directly or indirectly from a 
member of The Mother Church of Christ, Scientist, which 
relate in any manner to the keeping or the breaking 
of one of the Church By-laws, should be addressed to 
the Christian Science Board of Directors and not to the 
Pastor Emeritus. 

A Word to the Wise 

The hour is imminent. Upon it lie burdens that 
time will remove. Just now divine Love and wisdom 
saith, "Be still, and know that I am God." Do all Chris- 



224 MISCELLANY 

tian Scientists see or understand the importance of that 
demand at the moment, when human wisdom is inade- 
quate to meet the exigencies of the hour and when they 
should wait on the logic of events? 

I respectfully call your attention to this demand, know- 
ing a little, as I ought, the human need, the divine com- 
mand, the blessing which follows obedience and the bane 
which follows disobedience. Hurried conclusions as to 
the public thought are not apt to be correctly drawn. The 
public sentiment is helpful or dangerous only in proportion 
to its right or its wrong concept, and the forward footsteps 
it impels or the prejudice it instils. This prejudice the 
future must disclose and dispel. Avoid for the immediate 
present public debating clubs. Also be sure that you are 
not caught in some author's net, or made blind to his 
loss of the Golden Rule, of which Christian Science is the 
predicate and postulate, when he borrows the thoughts, 
words, and classification of one author without quotation- 
marks, at the same time giving full credit to another more 
fashionable but less correct. 

My books state Christian Science correctly. They may 
not be as taking to those ignorant of this Science as 
books less correct and therefore less profound. But it is 
not safe to accept the latter as standards. We would not 
deny their authors a hearing, since the Scripture declares, 
" He that is not against us is on our part." And we should 
also speak in loving terms of their efforts, but we cannot 
afford to recommend any literature as wholly Christian 
Science which is not absolutely genuine. 

Beloved students, just now let us adopt the classic 
saying, "They also serve who only stand and wait." 
Our Cause is growing apace under the present persecution 



CAPITALIZATION 225 

thereof. This is a crucial hour, in which the coward and 
the hypocrite come to the surface to pass off, while the 
loyal at heart and the worker in the spirit of Truth are 
rising to the zenith of success, — the " Well done, good 
and faithful," spoken by our Master. 

Capitalization 

A correct use of capital letters in composition caps the 
climax of the old "new tongue." Christian Science is not 
understood by the writer or the reader who does not com- 
prehend where capital letters should be used in writing 
about Christian Science. 

In divine Science all belongs to God, for God is All; 
hence the propriety of giving unto His holy name 
due deference, — the capitalization which distinguishes 
it from all other names, thus obeying the leading of our 
Lord's Prayer. 

The coming of Christ's kingdom on earth begins in the 
minds of men by honoring God and sacredly holding His 
name apart from the names of that which He creates. 
Mankind almost universally gives to the divine Spirit 
the name God. Christian Science names God as divine 
Principle, Love, the infinite Person. In this, as in all 
that is right. Christian Scientists are expected to stick 
to their text, and by no illogical conclusion, either in 
speaking or in writing, to forget their prayer, " Hallowed 
be Thy name." 

In their textbook it is clearly stated that God is divine 
Principle and that His synonyms are Love, Truth, Life, 
Spirit, Mind, Soul, which combine as one. The divine 
Principle includes them all. The word Principle, when 
referring to God, should not be written or used as a 



226 MISCELLANY 

common noun or in the plural number. To avoid using 
this word incorrectly, use it only where you can substi- 
tute the word God and make sense. This rule strictly 
observed will preserve an intelligent usage of the word 
and convey its meaning in Christian Science. 

What are termed in common speech the principle of har- 
monious vibration, the principle of conservation of num- 
ber in geometry, the principle of the inclined plane in 
mechanics, etc., are but an effect of one universal cause, — 
an emanation of the one divine intelligent Principle that 
holds the earth in its orbit by evolved spiritual power, 
that commands the waves and the winds, that marks the 
sparrow's fall, and that governs all from the infinitesimal 
to the infinite, — nameh^, God. Withdraw God, divine 
Principle, from man and the universe, and man and the 
universe would no longer exist. But annihilate matter, 
and man and the universe would remain the forever fact, 
the spiritual "substance of things hoped for;" and the 
evidence of the immortality of man and the cosmos is 
sustained by the intelligent divine Principle, Love. 

Beloved students, in this you learn to hallow His name, 
even as you value His all-power, all-presence, all-Science, 
and depend on Him for your existence. 

Wherefore? 

Our faithful laborers in the field of Science have 
been told by the alert editor-in-chief of the Christian 
Science Sentinel and Journal that "Mrs. Eddy advises, 
until the public thought becomes better acquainted with 
Christian Science, that Christian Scientists decline to 
doctor infectious or contagious diseases." 



WHEREFORE ? 227 

The great Master said, "For which of those works do 
ye stone me?" He said this to satisfy himself regarding 
that which he spake as God's representative — as one who 
never weakened in his own personal sense of righteousness 
because of another's wickedness or because of the minify- 
ing of his own goodness by another. Charity is quite as 
rare as wisdom, but when charity does appear, it is known 
by its patience and endurance. 

When, under the protection of State or United States 
laws, good citizens are arrested for manslaughter because 
one out of three of their patients, having the same disease 
and in the same family, dies while the others recover, we 
naturally turn to divine justice for support and wait on 
God. Christian Scientists should be influenced by their 
own judgment in taking a case of malignant disease. 
They should consider well their ability to cope with the 
claim, and they should not overlook the fact that there 
are those lying in wait to catch them in their sayings; 
neither should they forget that in their practice, whether 
successful or not, they are not specially protected by law. 
The above quotation by the editor-in-chief stands for this : 
Inherent justice, constitutional individual rights, self- 
preservation, and the gospel injunction, "Neither cast 
ye your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under 
their feet, and turn again and rend you." 

And it stands side by side with Christ's command, 
"Whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to 
him the other also." I abide by this rule and triumph by 
it. The sinner may sneer at this beatitude, for "the fool 
hath said in his heart. There is no God." Statistics show 
that Christian Science cures a larger per cent of malignant 
diseases than does materia medica. 



228 MISCELLANY 

I call disease by its name and have cured it thus; so 
there is nothing new on this score. My book Science and 
Health names disease, and thousands are healed by 
learning that so-called disease is a sensation of mind, not 
of matter. Evil minds signally blunder in divine meta- 
physics; hence I am always saying the unexpected to 
them. The evil mind calls it "skulking," when to me it 
is wisdom to "overcome evil with good." I fail to know 
how one can be a Christian and yet depart from Christ's 
teachings. 

Significant Questions 

Who shall be greatest? Referring to John the Baptist, 
of whom he said none greater had been born of women, 
our Master declared : " He that is least in the kingdom of 
heaven is greater than he." That is, he that hath the 
kingdom of heaven, the reign of holiness, in the least in his 
heart, shall be greatest. 

Who shall inherit the earth? The meek, who sit at the 
feet of Truth, bathing the human understanding with 
tears of repentance and washing it clean from the taints of 
self -righteousness, hypocrisy, envy, — they shall inherit 
the earth, for "wisdom is justified of her children." 

"Who shall dwell in Thy holy hill? He that walketh 
uprightly, and worketh righteousness, and speaketh the 
truth in his heart." 

Who shall be called to Pleasant View? He who strives, 
and attains; who has the divine presumption to say: "For 
I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that 
he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him 
against that day" (St. Paul). It goes without saying that 
such a one was never called to Pleasant View for penance 



MENTAL DIGESTION 229 

or for reformation ; and I call none but genuine Christian 
Scientists, unless I mistake their calling. No mesmerist 
nor disloyal Christian Scientist is fit to come hither. I 
have no use for such, and there cannot be found at Pleasant 
View one of this sort. "For all that do these things are 
an abomination unto the Lord: and because of these 
abominations the Lord thy God doth drive them out from 
before thee." (Deuteronomy 18: 12.) 

It is true that loyal Christian Scientists, called to the 
home of the Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science, 
can acquire in one year the Science that otherwise might 
cost them a half century. But this should not be the 
incentive for going thither. Better far that Christian 
Scientists go to help their helper, and thus lose all selfish- 
ness, as she has lost it, and thereby help themselves and 
the whole world, as she has done, according to this saying 
of Christ Jesus : " And whosoever doth not bear his cross, 
and come after me, cannot be my disciple." 

Mental Digestion 

Will those beloved students, whose growth is taking in 
the Ten Commandments and scaling the steep ascent of 
Christ's Sermon on the Mount, accept profound thanks for 
their swift messages of rejoicing over the twentieth cen- 
tury Church Manual? Heaps upon heaps of praise con- 
front me, and for what? That which I said in my heart 
would never be needed, — namely, laws of limitation for a 
Christian Scientist. Thy ways are not as ours. Thou 
knowest best what we need most, — hence my disap- 
pointed hope and grateful joy. The redeemed should be 
happier than the elect. Truth is strong with destiny; 
it takes life profoundly; it measures the infinite against 



230 MISCELLANY 

the finite. Notwithstanding the sacrilegious moth of time, 
eternity awaits our Church Manual, which will maintain 
its rank as in the past, amid ministries aggressive and 
active, and will stand when those have passed to rest. 

Scientific pathology illustrates the digestion of spiritual 
nutriment as both sweet and bitter, — sweet in expectancy 
and bitter in experience or during the senses' assimilation 
thereof, and digested only when Soul silences the dyspepsia 
of sense. This church is impartial. Its rules apply not 
to one member only, but to one and all equally. Of this 
I am sure, that each Rule and By-law in this Manual will 
increase the spirituality of him who obeys it, invigorate his 
capacity to heal the sick, to comfort such as mourn, and 
to awaken the sinner. 

Teaching in the Sunday School 

To THE Superintendent and Teachers of The 
Mother Church Sunday School 

Beloved Students: — I read with pleasure your approval 
of the amendments to Article XIX., Sections 5 and 6,^ 
in our Church Manual. Be assured that fitness and 
fidelity such as thine in the ofiicials of my church give 
my solitude sweet surcease. It is a joy to know that 
they who are faithful over foundational trusts, such as 
the Christian education of the dear children, will reap 
the reward of Tightness, rise in the scale of being, and 
realize at last their Master's promise, "And they shall be 
all taught of God." 

Pleasant View, Concord, N. H., 
November 14, 1904. 

1 Article XX., Sections 2 and 3 in 89th edition. 



LESSONS IN THE SUNDAY SCHOOL 231 



Charity and Invalids 

Mrs. Eddy endeavors to bestow her charities for such 
purposes only as God indicates. Giving merely in com- 
pliance with solicitations or petitions from strangers, 
incurs the liability of working in wrong directions. As 
a rule, she has suffered most from those whom she has 
labored much to benefit — also from the undeserving 
poor to whom she has given large sums of money, worse 
than wasted. She has, therefore, finally resolved to 
spend no more time or money in such uncertain, un- 
fortunate investments. She has qualified students for 
healing the sick, and has ceased practice herself in order 
to help God's work in other of its highest and infinite 
meanings, as God, not man, directs. Hence, letters from 
invalids demanding her help do not reach her. They are 
committed to the waste-basket by her secretaries. 

"Charity suffereth long and is kind," but wisdom must 
govern charity, else love's labor is lost and giving is un- 
kind. As it is, Mrs. Eddy is constantly receiving more 
important demands on her time and attention than one 
woman is sufficient to supply. It would therefore be as 
unwise for her to undertake new tasks, as for a landlord 
who has not an empty apartment in his house, to receive 
more tenants. 

Lessons in the Sunday School 

To THE Officers of the Sunday School of Second Church 
OF Christ, Scientist, New York 

Beloved Brethren: — You will accept my thanks for your 
interesting report regarding the By-law, "Subject for 
Lessons" (Article XX., Section 3 of Church Manual). 



232 MISCELLANY 

It rejoices me that you are recognizing the proper course, 
unfurhng your banner to the breeze of God, and sailing 
over rough seas with the helm in His hands. Steering 
thus, the waiting waves will weave for you their winning 
webs of life in looms of love that line the sacred shores. 
The right way wins the right of way, even the way of 
Truth and Love whereby all our debts are paid, mankind 
blessed, and God glorified. 

Watching versus Watching Out 

Comment on an Editoeial which Appeared in the Christian 
Science Sentinel, September 23, 1905 

Our Lord and Master left to us the following sayings as 
living lights in our darkness : " What I say unto you I say 
unto all. Watch" (Mark 13:37); and, "If the goodman 
of the house had known what hour the thief would come, 
he would have watched, and not have suffered his house 
to be broken through." (Luke 12:39.) 

Here we ask: Are Christ's teachings the true authority 
for Christian Science? They are. Does the textbook of 
Christian Science, "Science and Health with Key to the 
Scriptures," read on page 252, "A knowledge of error 
and of its operations must precede that understanding 
of Truth which destroys error, until the entire mortal, 
material error finally disappears, and the eternal verity, 
man created by and of Spirit, is understood and recog- 
nized as the true likeness of his Maker " ? It does. If 
so-called watching produces fear or exhaustion and no 
good results, does that watch accord with Jesus' saying? 
It does not. Can watching as Christ demands harm 
you? It cannot. Then should not "watching out" 
mean, watching against a negative watch, alias, no 



PRINCIPLE OR PERSON? 233 

watch, and gaining the spirit of true watching, even the 
spirit of our Master's command? It must mean that. 

Is there not something to watch in yourself, in your 
daily life, since "by their fruits ye shall know them," 
which prevents an effective watch? Otherwise, where- 
fore the Lord's Prayer, "Deliver us from evil"? And 
if this something, when challenged by Truth, frightens 
you, should you not put that out instead of putting 
out your watch f I surely should. Then are you not 
made better by watching? I am. Which should we 
prefer, ease or dis-ease in sin? Is not discomfort from 
sin better adapted to deliver mortals from the effects of 
belief in sin than ease in sin? and can you demonstrate 
over the effects of other people's sins by indifference 
thereto? I cannot. 

The Scriptures say, "They have healed also the hurt 
of the daughter of my people slightly, saying. Peace, 
peace; when there is no peace" (Jeremiah 6 : 14), thus 
taking the name of God in vain. Ignorance of self is the 
most stubborn belief to overcome, for apathy, dishonesty, 
sin, follow in its train. One should watch to know what 
his errors are; and if this watching destroys his peace in 
error, should one watch against such a result? He should 
not. Our Master said, "He that taketh not his cross, 
and followeth after me, is not worthy of me . . . and he 
that loseth his life [his false sense of life] for my sake shall 
find it." (Matthew 10: 38, 39.) 

Principle or Person? 

Do Christian Scientists love God as much as they love 
mankind? Aye, that's the question. Let us examine it 
for ourselves. Thinking of person implies that one is not 



234 MISCELLANY 

thinking of Principle, and fifty telegrams per holiday sig- 
nalize the thinking of person. Are the holidays blest by 
absorbing one's time writing or reading congratulations? 
I cannot watch and pray while reading telegrams; they 
only cloud the clear sky, and they give the appearance of 
personal worship which Christian Science annuls. Did 
the dear students know how much I love them, and how 
I need every hour wherein to express this love in labor 
for them, they would gladly give me the holidays for this 
work and not task themselves with mistaken means. 
But God will reward their kind motives, and guide them 
every step of the way from human affection to spiritual 
understanding, from faith to achievement, from light to 
Love, from sense to Soul. 

Christian Science and China 

Beloved Student : — The report of the success of Christian 
Science in benighted China, when regarded on one side 
only, is cheering, but to look at both sides of the great 
question of introducing Christian Science into a heathen 
nation gives the subject quite another aspect. I believe 
that all our great Master's sayings are practical and 
scientific. If the Dowager Empress could hold her 
nation, there would be no danger in teaching Christian 
Science in her country. But a war on religion in 
China would be more fatal than the Boxers' rebellion. 
Silent prayer in and for a heathen nation is just what 
is needed. But to teach and to demonstrate Christian 
Science before the minds of the people are prepared 
for it, and when the laws are against it, is fraught with 
danger. 



SIGNS OF THE TIMES 235 

Inconsistency 

To teach the truth of Hfe without using the word 
death, the suppositional opposite of hfe, were as impos- 
sible as to define truth and not name its opposite, error. 
Straining at gnats, one may swallow camels. 

The tender mother, guided by love, faithful to her in- 
stincts, and adhering to the imperative rules of Science, 
asks herself: Can I teach my child the correct numer- 
ation of numbers and never name a cipher? Knowing 
that she cannot do this in mathematics, she should know 
that it cannot be done in metaphysics, and so she should 
definitely name the error, uncover it, and teach truth 
scientifically. 

Signs of the Times 

Is God infinite? Yes. Did God make man? Yes. 
Did God make all that was made? He did. Is God 
Spirit? He is. Did infinite Spirit make that which is 
not spiritual? No. Who or what made matter? Matter 
as substance or intelligence never was made. Is mortal 
man a creator, is he matter or spirit? Neither one. Why? 
Because Spirit is God and infinite; hence there can be 
no other creator and no other creation. Man is but His 
image and likeness. 

Are you a Christian Scientist? I am. Do you adopt 
as truth the above statements? I do. Then why this 
meaningless commemoration of birthdays, since there are 
none? 

Had I known what was being done in time to have 
prevented it, that which commemorated in deed or in 
word what is not true, would never have entered into the 



236 MISCELLANY 

history of our church buildings. Let us have no more of 
echoing dreams. Will the beloved students accept my 
full heart's love for them and their kind thoughts. 

NoTA Bene 

My Beloved Christian Scientists: — Because I suggested 
the name for one central Reading Room, and this name 
continues to be multiplied, you will permit me to make 
the amende honorable — notwithstanding "incompetence" 
— and to say, please adopt generally for your name, 
Christian Science Reading Room. An old axiom says: 
Too much of one thing spoils the whole. Too many 
centres may become equivalent to no centre. 

Here I have the joy of knowing that Christian Scientists 
will exchange the present name for the one which I sug- 
gest, with the sweet alacrity and uniformity with which 
they accepted the first name. 

Merely this appellative seals the question of unity, and 
opens wide on the amplitude of liberty and love a far- 
reaching motive and success, of which we can say, the 
more the better. 

Pleasant View, Concord, N. H., 
July 8, 1907. 

Take Notice 

I request the Christian Scientists universally to read 
the paragraph beginning at line 30 of page 442 in the 
edition of Science and Health which mil be issued Febru- 
ary 29 [1908]. I consider the information there given to 
be of great importance at this stage of the vvorkings of 
animal magnetism, and it mil greatly aid the students in 
their individual experiences. 



TAKE NOTICE 237 

The contemplated reference in Science and Health to 
the "higher criticism" announced in the Sentinel a few 
weeks ago, I have since decided not to publish. 

Take Notice 

What I wrote on Christian Science some twenty-five 
years ago I do not consider a precedent for a present 
student of this Science. The best mathematician has 
not attained the full understanding of the principle 
thereof, in his earliest studies or discoveries. Hence, it 
were wise to accept only my teachings that I know to 
be correct and adapted to the present demand. 

Take Notice 

To Christian Scientists: — See Science and Health, page 
442, line 30, and give daily attention thereto. 

Practitioners' Charges 

Christian Science practitioners should make their 
charges for treatment equal to those of reputable phy- 
sicians in their respective localities. 

Brookline, Mass., December 24, 1909. 

Take Notice 

The article on the Church Manual by Blanche Hersey 
Hogue, in the Sentinel of September 10 [1910] is practi- 
cal and scientific, and I recommend its careful study to all 
Christian Scientists. 



CHAPTER XI 
QUESTIONS ANSWERED 

Questions and Answers 

Will the Bible, if read and practised, heal as effectually 
as your book, '' Science and Health with Key to the 
Scriptures "f 

THE exact degree of comparison between the effects 
produced by reading ttie above-named books can 
only be determined by personal proof. Rightly to read 
and to practise the Scriptures, their spiritual sense must 
be discerned, understood, and demonstrated. God being 
Spirit, His language and meaning are wholly spiritual. 
Uninspired knowledge of the translations of the Scriptures 
has imparted little power to practise the Word. Hence 
the revelation, discovery, and presentation of Christian 
Science — the Christ Science, or ''new tongue" of which 
St. Mark prophesied — became requisite in the divine 
order. On the swift pinions of spiritual thought man 
rises above the letter, law, or morale of the inspired Word 
to the spirit of Truth, whereby the Science is reached 
that demonstrates God. When the Bible is thus read 
and practised, there is no possibility of misinterpreta- 
tion. God is understandable, knowable, and applicable 
to every human need. In this is the proof that Chris- 
tian Science is Science, for it demonstrates Life, not 

238 



QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS 239 

death; health, not disease; Truth, not error; Love, not 
hate. The Science of the Scriptures coexists with God; 
and "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" 
relegates Christianity to its primitive proof, wherein 
reason, revelation, the divine Principle, rules, and prac- 
tice of Christianity acquaint the student with God. In 
the ratio that Christian Science is studied and under- 
stood, mankind will, as aforetime, imbibe the spirit and 
prove the practicality, validity, and redemptive power of 
Christianity by healing all manner of disease, by over- 
coming sin and death. 

Must mankind wait for the ultimate of the millennium — 
until every man and woman comes into the knowledge of 
Christ and all are taught of God and see their apparent 
identity as one man and one woman — for God to he 
represented by His idea or image and likeness f 

God is one, and His idea, image, or hkeness, man, is one. 
But God is infinite and so includes all in one. Man is the 
generic term for men and women. Man, as the idea or 
image and likeness of the infinite God, is a compound, com- 
plex idea or likeness of the infinite one, or one infinite, 
whose image is the reflection of all that is real and eternal 
in infinite identity. Gender means a kind. Hence man- 
kind — in other words, a kind of man who is identi- 
fied by sex — is the material, so-called man born of the 
flesh, and is not the spiritual man, created by God, 
Spirit, who made all that was made. The millennium 
is a state and stage of mental advancement, going 
on since ever time was. Its impetus, accelerated by 
the advent of Christian Science, is marked, and will 



240 MISCELLANY 

increase till all men shall know Him (divine Love) from 
the least to the greatest, and one God and the brother- 
hood of man shall be known and acknowledged through- 
out the earth. 

The Higher Criticism 

An earnest student writes to me: "Would it be asking 
too much of you to explain more fully why you call Chris- 
tian Science the higher criticism?" 

I called Christian Science the higher criticism in my 
dedicatory Message to The Mother Church, June 10, 
1906, when I said, "This Science is a law of divine Mind, 
... an ever-present help. Its presence is felt, for it 
acts and acts wisely, always unfolding the highway of 
hope, faith, understanding." 

I now repeat another proof, namely, that Christian 
Science is the higher criticism because it criticizes evil, 
disease, and death — all that is unlike God, good — on a 
Scriptural basis, and approves or disapproves according 
to the word of God. In the next edition of Science and 
Health I shall refer to this. 

Mary Baker Eddy. 

Class Teaching 

Mrs. Eddy thus replies, through her student, Mr. 
Adam Dickey, to the question, Does Mrs. Eddy approve 
of class teaching : — 

Yes! She most assuredly does, when the teaching is 
done by those who are duly qualified, who have re- 
ceived certificates from the Massachusetts Metaphysical 
College or the Board of Education, and who have the 



INSTRUCTION BY MRS. EDDY 241 

necessary moral and spiritual qualifications to perform 
this important work. Class teaching will not be abol- 
ished until it has accomplished that for which it was 
estabHshed; viz., the elucidation of the Principle and 
rule of Christian Science through the higher meaning 
of the Scriptures. Students who are ready for this 
step should beware the net that is craftily laid and cun- 
ningly concealed to prevent their advancement in this 
direction. 

Instruction by Mrs. Eddy 

We are glad to have the privilege of publishing an ex- 
tract from a letter to Mrs. Eddy, from a Christian Scien- 
tist in the West, and Mrs. Eddy's reply thereto. The 
issue raised is an important one and one upon which 
there should be absolute and correct teaching. Christian 
Scientists are fortunate to receive instruction from their 
Leader on this point. The question and Mrs. Eddy's 
reply follow. 

"Last evening I was catechized by a Christian Science 
practitioner because I referred to myself as an immortal 
idea of the one divine Mind. The practitioner said that 
my statement was wrong, because I still lived in my 
flesh. I replied that I did not live in my flesh, that 
my flesh lived or died according to the beliefs I enter- 
tained about it; but that, after coming to the light of 
Truth, I had found that I lived and moved and had 
my being in God, and to obey Christ was not to know 
as real the beliefs of an earthly mortal. Please give the 
truth in the Sentinel, so that all may know it." 



242 MISCELLANY 



MES. EDDY S KEPLY 

You are scientifically correct in your statement about 
yourself. You can never demonstrate spirituality until you 
declare yourself to be immortal and understand that 
you are so. Christian Science is absolute; it is neither 
behind the point of perfection nor advancing towards 
it; it is at this point and must be practised therefrom. 
Unless you fully perceive that you are the child 
of God, hence perfect, you have no Principle to demon- 
strate and no rule for its demonstration. By this I 
do not mean that mortals are the children of God, — 
far from it. In practising Christian Science you must 
state its Principle correctly, or you forfeit your ability 
to demonstrate it. 

Take Notice 

I hereby announce to the Christian Science field that 
all inquiries or information relating to Christian Science 
practice, to publication committee work, reading-room 
work, or to ^Mother Church membership, should be sent 
to the Christian Science Board of Directors of The 
Mother Church; and I have requested my secretary 
not to make inquiries on these subjects, nor to reply to 
any received, but to leave these duties to the Clerk of 
The Mother Church, to whom they belong. 

Mary Baker Eddy. 
September 28, 1910. 



CHAPTER XII 
READERS, TEACHERS, LECTURERS 

The New York Churches 

MY Beloved Students : — According to reports, the 
belief is springing up among you that the several 
churches in New York City should come together and 
form one church. This is a suggestion of error, which 
should be silenced at its inception. You cannot have lost 
sight of the rules for branch churches as published in our 
Church Manual. The Empire City is large, and there 
should be more than one church in it. 

The Readers of The Church of Christ, Scientist, hold 
important, responsible offices, and two individuals would 
meet meagrely the duties of half a dozen or more of the 
present incumbents. I have not yet had the privilege of 
knowing two students who are adequate to take charge 
of three or more churches. The students in New York 
and elsewhere will see that it is wise to remain in their 
own fields of labor and give all possible time and attention 
to caring for their own flocks. 

The November Class, 1898 

Beloved Christian Scientists: — Your prompt presence in 
Concord at my unexplained call witnesses your fidelity 
to Christian Science and your spiritual unity with your 

243 



244 MISCELLANY 

Leader. I have awaited your arrival before informing 
you of my purpose in sending for you, in order to avoid 
the stir that might be occasioned among those who wish 
to share this opportunity and to whom I would gladly 
give it at this time if a larger class were advantageous 
to the students. 

You have been invited hither to receive from me one or 
more lessons on Christian Science, prior to conferring on 
any or all of you who are ready for it, the degree of C.S.D., 
of the Massachusetts Metaphysical College. This oppor- 
tunity is designed to impart a fresh impulse to our spiritual 
attainments, the great need of which I daily discern. 
I have awaited the right hour, and to be called of God 
to contribute my part towards this result. 

The ^'secret place," whereof David sang, is unquestion- 
ably man's spiritual state in God's own image and like- 
ness, even the inner sanctuary of divine Science, in which 
mortals do not enter without a struggle or sharp experi- 
ence, and in which they put off the human for the divine. 
Knowing this, our Master said : " Many are called, but few 
are chosen." In the highest sense of a disciple, all loyal 
students of my books are indeed my students, and your 
wise, faithful teachers have come so to regard them. 

What I have to say may not require more than one 
lesson. This, however, must depend on results. But 
the lessons will certainly not exceed three in number. 
No charge will be made for my services. 

Massachusetts Metaphysical College 

The Massachusetts Metaphysical College of Boston, 
Massachusetts, was chartered a.d. 1881. As the people 
observed the success of this Christian system of heal- 



METAPHYSICAL COLLEGE 245 

ing all manner of disease, over and above the approved 
schools of medicine, they became deeply interested 
in it. Now the wide demand for this universal bene- 
fice is imperative, and it should be met as heretofore, 
cautiously, systematically, scientifically. This Chris- 
tian educational system is established on a broad and 
liberal basis. Law and order characterize its work 
and secure a thorough preparation of the student for 
practice. 

The growth of human inquiry and the increasing pop- 
ularity of Christian Science, I regret to say, have called 
out of their hiding-places those poisonous reptiles and de- 
vouring beasts, superstition and jealousy. Towards the 
animal elements manifested in ignorance, persecution, 
and lean glory, and to their Babel of confusion worse 
confounded, let Christian Scientists be charitable. Let 
the voice of Truth and Love be heard above the dire 
din of mortal nothingness, and the majestic march of 
Christian Science go on ad infinitum, praising God, 
doing the works of primitive Christianity, and enlighten- 
ing the world. 

To protect the public, students of the Massachusetts 
Metaphysical College have received certificates, and these 
credentials are still required of all who claim to teach 
Christian Science. 

Inquiries have been made as to the precise significa- 
tion of the letters of degrees that follow the names of 
Christian Scientists. They indicate, respectively, the 
degrees of Bachelor and Doctor of Christian Science, 
conferred by the President or Vice-President of the 
Massachusetts Metaphysical College. The first degree 
(C.S.B.) is given to students of the Primary class; the 



246 MISCELLANY 

second degree (C.S.D.) is given to those who, after 
receiving the first degree, continue for three years as 
practitioners of Christian Science in good and regular 
standing. 

Students who enter the Massachusetts Metaphys- 
ical College, or are examined under its auspices by 
the Board of Education, must be well educated and 
have practised Christian Science three years with good 
success. 



The Board of Education 

In the year 1889, to gain a higher hope for the race, I 
closed my College in the midst of unprecedented pros- 
perity, left Boston, and sought in solitude and silence a 
higher understanding of the absolute scientific unity which 
must exist between the teaching and letter of Christianity 
and the spirit of Christianity, dwelling forever in the 
divine Mind or Principle of man's being and revealed 
through the human character. 

While revising "Science and Health with Key to the 
Scriptures," the light and might of the divine concur- 
rence of the spirit and the Word appeared, and the 
result is an auxiliary to the College called the Board of 
Education of The Mother Church of Christ, Scientist, 
in Boston, Mass. 

Our Master said: "What I do thou knowest not now; 
but thou shalt know hereafter;" and the spirit of his 
mission, the wisdom of his words, and the immortal- 
ity of his works are the same to-day as yesterday and 
forever. 

The Magna Charta of Christian Science means much, 



TO A FIRST READER 247 

multum in parvo, — all-in-one and one-in-all. It stands 
for the inalienable, universal rights of men. Essentially 
democratic, its government is administered by the 
common consent of the governed, wherein and whereby 
man governed by his creator is self -governed. The 
church is the mouthpiece of Christian Science, — its 
law and gospel are according to Christ Jesus; its rules 
are health, holiness, and immortality, — equal rights and 
privileges, equality of the sexes, rotation in office. 

To A First Reader 

Beloved Student : — Christ is meekness and Truth 
enthroned. Put on the robes of Christ, and you will 
be lifted up and will draw all men unto you. The 
little fishes in my fountain must have felt me when I 
stood silently beside it, for they came out in orderly 
line to the rim where I stood. Then I fed these 
sweet little thoughts that, not fearing me, sought their 
food of me. 

God has called you to be a fisher of men. It is not a 
stern but a loving look which brings forth mankind to 
receive your bestowal, — not so much eloquence as tender 
persuasion that takes away their fear, for it is Love alone 
that feeds them. 

Do you come to your little flock so filled with divine 
food that you cast your bread upon the waters? Then 
be sure that after many or a few days it will return 
to you. 

The little that I have accomplished has all been 
done through love, — self-forgetful, patient, unfaltering 
tenderness. 



248 MISCELLANY 

The Christian Science Board of Lectureship 

Beloved Students : — I am more than satisfied with your 
work : its grandeur almost surprises me. Let your watch- 
word always be : 

"Great, not like Caesar, stained with blood. 
But only great as I am good." 

You are not setting up to be great ; you are here for the 
purpose of grasping and defining the demonstrable, the 
eternal. Spiritual heroes and prophets are they whose 
new-old birthright is to put an end to falsities in a wise 
way and to proclaim Truth so winningly that an honest, 
fervid affection for the race is found adequate for the 
emancipation of the race. 

You are the needed and the inevitable sponsors for the 
twentieth century, reaching deep down into the univer- 
jal and rising above theorems into the transcendental, 
the infinite — yea, to the reality of God, man, nature, 
the universe. No fatal circumstance of idolatry can fold 
or falter your wings. No fetishism with a symbol can 
fetter your flight. You soar only as uplifted by God's 
power, or you fall for lack of the divine impetus. You 
know that to conceive God aright you must be good. 

The Christ mode of understanding Life — of extermi- 
nating sin and suffering and their penalty, death — I 
have largely committed to you, my faithful witnesses. 
You go forth to face the foe with loving look and with the 
religion and philosophy of labor, duty, liberty, and love, 
to challenge universal indifference, chance, and creeds. 
Your highest inspiration is found nearest the divine 
Principle and nearest the scientific expression of Truth. 



READERS IN CHURCH 249 

You may condemn evil in the abstract without harming 
any one or your own moral sense, but condemn persons 
seldom, if ever. Improve every opportunity to correct 
sin through your own perfectness. When error strives to 
be heard above Truth, let the " still small voice " produce 
God's phenomena. Meet dispassionately the raging ele- 
ment of individual hate and counteract its most gigantic 
falsities. 

The moral abandon of hating even one's enemies ex- 
cludes goodness. Hate is a moral idiocy let loose for 
one's own destruction. Unless withstood, the heat of 
hate burns the wheat, spares the tares, and sends forth a 
mental miasma fatal to health, happiness, and the morals 
of mankind, — and all this only to satiate its loathing of 
love and its revenge on the patience, silence, and lives 
of saints. The marvel is, that at this enlightened period 
a respectable newspaper should countenance such evil 
tendencies. 

Millions may know that I am the Founder of Chris- 
tian Science. I alone know what that means. 



Readers in Church 

The report that I prefer to have a man, rather than 
a woman, for First Reader in The Church of Christ, 
Scientist, I desire to correct. My preference lies with 
the individual best fitted to perform this important 
function. If both the First and Second Readers are my 
students, then without reference to sex I should prefer 
that student who is most spiritually-minded. What our 
churches need is that devout, unselfed quality of thought 
which spiritualizes the congregation. 



250 MISCELLANY 

Words for the Wise 

The By-law of The Mother Church of Christ, Scientist, 
relative to a three years' term for church Readers, was 
entitled to and has received profound attention. Rotation 
in office promotes wisdom, quiets mad ambition, satisfies 
justice, and crowns honest endeavors. 

The best Christian Scientists will be the first to adopt 
this By-law in their churches, and their Readers will 
retire ex officio, after three years of acceptable service as 
church Readers, to higher usefulness in this vast vineyard 
of our Lord. 

The churches who adopt this By-law will please send 
to the Editor of our periodicals notice of their action. 

Afterglow 

Beloved Students : — The By-law of The Mother 
Church of Christ, Scientist, stipulating three years as 
the term for its Readers, neither binds nor compels the 
branch churches to follow suit; and the By-law applies 
only to Christian Science churches in the United States 
and Canada. Doubtless the churches adopting this 
By-law will discriminate as regards its adaptability to 
their conditions. But if now is not the time, the branch 
churches can wait for the favored moment to act on this 
subject. 

I rest peacefully in knowing that the impulsion of this 
action in The Mother Church was from above. So I have 
faith that whatever is done in this direction by the branch 
churches will be blest. The Readers who have filled this 
sacred office many years, have beyond it duties and 



GENERAL ASSOCIATION OF TEACHERS 251 

attainments beckoning them. What these are I cannot 
yet say. The great Master saith: "What I do thou 
knowest not now; but thou shalt know hereafter." 

Teachers of Christian Science 

I reply to the following question from unknown ques- 
tioners : 

"Are the students, whom I have taught, obliged to 
take both Primary and Normal class instruction in the 
Board of Education in order to become teachers of Pri- 
mary classes?" 

No, not if you and they are loyal Christian Scientists, 
and not if, after examination in the Board of Education, 
your pupils are found eligible to enter the Normal class, 
which at present is taught in the Board of Education 
only. 

There is evidently some misapprehension of my meaning 
as to the mode of instruction in the Board of Education. 
A Primary student of mine can teach pupils the prac- 
tice of Christian Science, and after three years of good 
practice, my Primary student can himself be examined in 
the Board of Education, and if found eligible, receive a 
certificate of the degree C.S.D. 

The General Association of Teachers, 1903 

My Beloved Students: — I call you mine, for all is thine 
and mine. What God gives, elucidates, armors, and tests 
in His service, is ours; and we are His. You have con- 
vened only to convince yourselves of this grand verity: 
namely, the unity in Christian Science. Cherish stead- 
fastly this fact. Adhere to the teachings of the Bible, 



252 MISCELLANY 

Science and Health, and our Manual, and you will obey 
the law and gospel. Have one God and you will 
have no devil. Keep yourselves busy with divine Love. 
Then you will be toilers like the bee, always distributing 
sweet things which, if bitter to sense, will be salutary as 
Soul; but you will not be like the spider, which weaves 
webs that ensnare. 

Rest assured that the good you do unto others you do 
to yourselves as well, and the wrong you may commit 
must, will, rebound upon you. The entire purpose of 
true education is to make one not only know the truth 
but live it — to make one enjoy doing right, make one 
not work in the sunshine and run away in the storm, but 
work midst clouds of wrong, injustice, envy, hate; and 
wait on God, the strong deliverer, who will reward right- 
eousness and punish iniquity. " As thy days, so shall thy 
strength be.'' 

The London Teachers' Association, 1903 

Beloved Students : — Your letter and dottings are an 
oasis in my wilderness. They point to verdant pastures, 
and are already rich ra^^s from the eternal sunshine of 
Love, lighting and leading humanity into paths of peace 
and holiness. 

Your "Thanksgiving Day," instituted in England on 
New Year's Day, was a step in advance. It expressed 
your thanks, and gave to the "happy New Year" a higher 
hint. You are not aroused to this action by the allure- 
ments of wealth, pride, or power; the impetus comes from 
above — it is. moral, spiritual, divine. All hail to this 
higher hope that neither slumbers nor is stilled by the 
cold impulse of a lesser gain ! 



BOARD OF EDUCATION 253 

It rejoices me to know that you know that heahng 
the sick, soothing sorrow, brightening this lower sphere 
with the ways and means of the higher and everlasting 
harmony, brings to light the perfect original man and uni- 
verse. What nobler achievement, what greater glory can 
nerve your endeavor? Press on! My heart and hope 
are with you. 

"Thou art not here for ease or pain, 
But manhood's glorious crown to gain." 

The General Association of Teachers, 1904 

Beloved Brethren: — I thank you. Jesus said: "The 
world hath not known Thee: but I have known Thee, 
and these have known that Thou hast sent me." 

The Canadian Teachers, 1904 

Beloved Brethren: — Accept my love and these words 
of Jesus: "Holy Father, keep through Thine own name 
those whom Thou hast given me, that they may be one, 



Students in the Board of Education, 
December, 1904 

Beloved Students: — You will accept my profound 
thanks for your letter and telegram. If wishing is wise, 
I send with this a store of wisdom in three words: God 
bless you. If faith is fruition, you have His rich blessing 
already and my joy therewith. 

We understand best that which begins in ourselves 
and by education brightens into birth. Dare to be 
faithful to God and man. Let the creature become 



254 MISCELLANY 

one with his creator, and mysticism departs, heaven 
opens, right reigns, and you have begun to be a Chris- 
tian Scientist. 

The May Class, 1905 

Beloved: — I am glad you enjoy the dawn of Christian 
Science; you must reach its meridian. Watch, pray, 
demonstrate. Released from materialism, you shall run 
and not be weary, walk and not faint. 

The December Class, 1905 

Beloved Students: — Responding to your kind letter, 
let me say : You will reap the sure reward of right think- 
ing and acting, of watching and praying, and you will 
find the ever-present God an ever-present help. I 
thank the faithful teacher of this class and its dear 
members. 

"Rotation in Office" 

Dear Leader: — May we have permission to print, as 
a part of the preamble to our By-laws, the following 
extract from your article "Christian Science Board of 
Education" in the June Journal of 1904, page 184: — 

"The Magna Charta of Christian Science means 
much, multum in parvo, — all-in-one and one-in-all. It 
stands for the inalienable, universal rights of men. 
Essentially democratic, its government is administered 
by the common consent of the governed, wherein and 
whereby man governed by his creator is self-governed. 
The church is the mouthpiece of Christian Science, 
— its law and gospel are according to Christ Jesus; 



"ROTATION IN OFFICE'' 255 

its rules are health, holiness, and immortality, — equal 
rights and privileges, equality of the sexes, rotation 
in office." 

MRS. eddy's reply 

Christian Science churches have my consent to publish 
the foregoing in their By-laws. By "rotation in office" 
I do not mean that minor officers who are filling their 
positions satisfactorily should be removed every three 
years, or be elevated to offices for which they are not 
qualified. 

Chestnut Hill, Mass., 
March 6, 1909. 



CHAPTER XIII 

CHRISTIMAS 
Early Chimes, December, 1898 

BEFORE the Christmas bells shall ring, allow me 
to improvise some new notes, not specially musi- 
cal to be sure, but admirably adapted to the key of my 
feeling and emphatically phrasing strict observance or 
note well. 

This year, my beloved Christian Scientists, you must 
grant me my request that I be permitted total exemption 
from Christmas gifts. Also I beg to send to you all a 
deep-drawn, heartfelt breath of thanks for those things 
of beauty and use forming themselves in your thoughts 
to send to your Leader. Thus may I close the door of 
mind on this subject, and open the volume of Life on 
the pure pages of impersonal presents, pleasures, achieve- 
ments, and aid. 

Christmas, 1900 

Again loved Christmas is here, full of divine benedic- 
tions and crowned with the dearest memories in human 
history — the earthly advent and nativity of our Lord 
and Master. At this happy season the veil of time 
springs aside at the touch of Love. We count our bless- 
ings and see whence they came and whither they tend. 
Parents call home their loved ones, the Yule-fires burn, 
the festive boards are spread, the gifts glow in the dark 

256 



CHRISTMAS GIFTS 257 

green branches of the Christmas-tree. But alas for the 
broken household band! God give to them more of 
His dear love that heals the wounded heart. 

To-day the watchful shepherd shouts his welcome over 
the new cradle of an old truth. This truth has traversed 
night, through gloom to glory, from cradle to crown. To 
the awakened consciousness, the Bethlehem babe has left 
his swaddling-clothes (material environments) for the 
form and comeliness of the divine ideal, which has passed 
from a corporeal to the spiritual sense of Christ and is 
winning the heart of humanity with ineffable tenderness. 
The Christ is speaking for himself and for his mother, 
Christ's heavenly origin and aim. To-day the Christ is, 
more than ever before, "the way, the truth, and the 
life,'' — ^^ which lighteth every man that cometh into the 
world," healing all sorrow, sickness, and sin. To this 
auspicious Christmastide, which hallows the close of the 
nineteenth century, our hearts are kneeling humbly. We 
own his grace, reviving and healing. At this immortal 
hour, all human hate, pride, greed, lust should bow and 
declare Christ's power, and the reign of Truth and Life 
divine should make man's being pure and blest. 

Christmas Gifts 

Beloved Students: — For your manifold Christmas memo- 
rials, too numerous to name, I group you in one benison 
and send you my Christmas gift, two words enwrapped, 
— love and thanks. 

To-day Christian Scientists have their record in the 
monarch's palace, the Alpine hamlet, the Christian trav- 
eller's resting-place. Wherever the child looks up in 



258 MISCELLANY 

prayer, or the Book of Life is loved, there the sinner is 
reformed and the sick are healed. Those are the "signs 
following/' What is it that lifts a system of religion to 
deserved fame? Nothing is worthy the name of religion 
save one lowly offering — love. 

This period, so fraught with opposites, seems illumi- 
nated for woman's hope with divine light. It bids her 
bind the tenderest tendril of the heart to all of holiest 
worth. To the woman at the sepulchre, bowed in strong 
affection's anguish, one word, "Mary," broke the gloom 
with Christ's all-conquering love. Then came her resurrec- 
tion and task of glory, to know and to do God's will, — 
in the words of St. Paul : " Looking unto Jesus the author 
and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set be- 
fore him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is 
set down at the right hand of the throne of God." 

The memory of the Bethlehem babe bears to mortals 
gifts greater than those of Magian kings, — hopes that 
cannot deceive, that waken prophecy, gleams of glory, 
coronals of meekness, diadems of love. Nor should they 
who drink their Master's cup repine over blossoms that 
mock their hope and friends that forsake. Divinely 
beautiful are the Christmas memories of him who sounded 
all depths of love, grief, death, and humanity. 

To the dear children let me say: Your Christmas gifts 
are hallowed by our Lord's blessing. A transmitted 
charm rests on them. May this consciousness of God's 
dear love for you give you the might of love, and may 
you move onward and upward, lowly in its majesty. 

To the children who sent me that beautiful statuette 
in alabaster — a child with finger on her lip reading a book 
— I write: Fancy yourselves with me; take a peep into 



THE SIGNIFICANCE OF CHRISTMAS 259 

my studio; look again at your gift, and you will see the 
sweetest sculptured face and form conceivable, mounted 
on its pedestal between my bow windows, and on either 
side lace and flowers. I have named it my white student. 
From First Church of Christ, Scientist, in London, 
Great Britain, I received the following cabled message : — 

Rev. Mrs. Eddy, Pleasant View, 
Concord, N. H. 

Loving, grateful Christmas greetings from members 
London, England, church. 

December 24, 1901. 

To this church across the sea I return my heart's wire- 
less love. All our dear churches' Christmas telegrams to 
me are refreshing and most pleasing Christmas presents, 
for they require less attention than packages and give me 
more time to think and work for others. I hope that in 
1902 the churches will remember me only thus. Do not 
forget that an honest, wise zeal, a lowly, triumphant 
trust, a true heart, and a helping hand constitute man, 
and nothing less is man or woman. 

[New York World] 

The Significance of Christmas 

Certain occasions, considered either collectively or 
individually and observed properly, tend to give the 
activity of man infinite scope; but mere merry-making 
or needless gift-giving is not that in which human capac- 
ities find the most appropriate and proper exercise. 
Christmas respects the Christ too much to submerge 
itself in merely temporary means and ends. It represents 
the eternal informing Soul recognized only in harmony, 



260 MISCELLANY 

in the beauty and bounty of Life everlasting, — in the 
truth that is Life, the Life that heals and saves man- 
kind. An eternal Christmas would make matter an alien 
save as phenomenon, and matter would reverentially 
withdraw itself before Mind. The despotism of material 
sense or the flesh would flee before such reality, to make 
room for substance, and the shadow of frivolity and the 
inaccuracy of material sense would disappear. 

In Christian Science, Christmas stands for the real, the 
absolute and eternal, — for the things of Spirit, not of mat- 
ter. Science is divine; it hath no partnership with human 
means and ends, no half-way stations.' Nothing condi- 
tional or material belongs to it. Human reason and phi- 
losophy may pursue paths devious, the line of liquids, the 
lure of gold, the doubtful sense that falls short of sub- 
stance, the things hoped for and the evidence unseen. 

The basis of Christmas is the rock, Christ Jesus; its 
fruits are inspiration and spiritual understanding of joy 
and rejoicing, — not because of tradition, usage, or cor- 
poreal pleasures, but because of fundamental and de- 
monstrable truth, because of the heaven within us. The 
basis of Christmas is love loving its enemies, returning 
good for evil, love that ^'suffereth long, and is kind." The 
true spirit of Christmas elevates medicine to Mind; it 
casts out evils, heals the sick, raises the dormant facul- 
ties, appeals to all conditions, and supplies every need of 
man. It leaves hygiene, medicine, ethics, and religion 
to God and His Christ, to that which is the Way, in word 
and in deed, — the Way, the Truth, and the Life. 

There is but one Jesus Christ on record. Christ is 
incorporeal. Neither the you nor the I in the flesh can 
be ov is Christ. 



WHAT CHRISTMAS MEANS TO ME 261 

Christmas for the Children 

Methinks the loving parents and guardians of youth 
ofttimes query : How shall we cheer the children's Christ- 
mas and profit them withal? The wisdom of their elders, 
who seek wisdom of God, seems to have amply provided 
for this, according to the custom of the age and to the full 
supply of juvenile joy. Let it continue thus with one 
exception: the children should not be taught to believe 
that Santa Claus has aught to do with this pastime. A 
deceit or falsehood is never wise. Too much cannot be 
done towards guarding and guiding well the germinating 
and inclining thought of childhood. To mould aright 
the first impressions of innocence, aids in perpetu- 
ating purity and in unfolding the immortal model, man 
in His image and Hkeness. St. Paul wrote, "When I 
was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a 
child, . . . but when I became a man, I put away 
childish things.'' 

Pleasant View, Concord, N.H., 
December 28, 1905. 

[The Ladies' Home Journal] 

What Christmas Means to Me 

To me Christmas involves an open secret, understood 
by few — or by none — and unutterable except in Chris- 
tian Science. Christ was not born of the flesh. Christ 
is the Truth and Life born of God — born of Spirit and 
not of matter. Jesus, the Galilean Prophet, was born 
of the Virgin Mary's spiritual thoughts of Life and its 
manifestation. 



262 MISCELLANY 

God creates man perfect and eternal in His own image. 
Hence man is the image, idea, or likeness of perfection 
— an ideal which cannot fall from its inherent unity 
w^ith divine Love, from its spotless purity and original 
perfection. 

Observed by material sense, Christmas commemorates 
the birth of a human, material, mortal babe — a babe 
born in a manger amidst the flocks and herds of a Jewish 
village. 

This homely origin of the babe Jesus falls far short 
of my sense of the eternal Christ, Truth, never born and 
never dying. I celebrate Christmas with my soul, my 
spiritual sense, and so commemorate the entrance into 
human understanding of the Christ conceived of Spirit, 
of God and not of a woman — as the birth of Truth, the 
dawn of divine Love breaking upon the gloom of matter 
and evil with the glory of infinite being. 

Human doctrines or hypotheses or vague human phi- 
losophy afford little divine effulgence, deific presence or 
power. Christmas to me is the reminder of God's great 
gift, — His spiritual idea, man and the universe, — 
a gift which so transcends mortal, material, sensual giv- 
ing that the merriment, mad ambition, rivalry, and 
ritual of our common Christmas seem a human mock- 
ery in mimicry of the real worship in commemoration 
of Christ's coming. 

I love to observe Christmas in quietude, humility, 
benevolence, charity, letting good will towards man, elo- 
quent silence, prayer, and praise express my conception 
of Truth's appearing. 

The splendor of this nativity of Christ reveals infinite 
meanings and gives manifold blessings. Material gifts 



MRS. EDDY'S CHRISTMAS MESSAGE 263 

and pastimes tend to obliterate the spiritual idea in con- 
sciousness, leaving one alone and without His glory. 

Mrs. Eddy's Christmas Message 

My Household. 

Beloved: — A word to the wise is sufficient. Mother 
wishes you all a happy Christmas, a feast of Soul and a 
famine of sense. 

Lovingly thine, 

Mary Baker Eddy. 

Box G, Brookline, Mass., 
December 25. 1909. 



CHAPTER XIV 

CONTRIBUTIONS TO NEWSPAPERS 
AND MAGAZINES 

[Boston Herald, May 5, 1900] 
A Word in Defence 

I EVEN hope that those who are kind enough to 
speak well of me may do so honestly and not too 
earnestly, and this seldom, until mankind learn more of 
my meaning and can speak justly of my living. 

[Boston Globe, November 29, 1900] 

Christian Science Thanks 

On the threshold of the twentieth century, will you 
please send through the Globe to the people of New 
England, which is the birthplace of Thanksgiving Day, a 
sentiment on what the last Thanksgiving Day of the 
nineteenth century should signify to all mankind? 

MRS. eddy's response 

New England's last Thanksgiving Day of this century 
signifies to the minds of men the Bible better understood 
and Truth and Love made more practical; the First 
Commandment of the Decalogue more imperative, and 

264 



CHRISTIAN SCIENCE THANKS 265 

"Love thy neighbor as thyself" more possible and 
pleasurable. 

It signifies that love, unselfed, knocks more loudly than 
ever before at the heart of humanity and that it finds 
admittance; that revelation, spiritual voice and vision, 
are less subordinate to material sight and sound and more 
apparent to reason; that evil flourishes less, invests less 
in trusts, loses capital, and is bought at par value; that 
the Christ-spirit will cleanse the earth of human gore; 
that civilization, peace between nations, and the brother- 
hood of man should be established, and justice plead not 
vainly in behalf of the sacred rights of individuals, peoples, 
and nations. 

It signifies that the Science of Christianity has dawned 
upon human thought to appear full-orbed in millennial 
glory; that scientific religion and scientific therapeutics 
are improving the morals and increasing the longevity 
of mankind, are mitigating and destroying sin, disease, 
and death; that religion and materia medica should be 
no longer tyrannical and proscriptive; that divine Love, 
impartial and universal, as understood in divine Sci- 
ence, forms the coincidence of the human and divine, 
which fulfils the saying of our great Master, " The king- 
dom of God is within you;" that the atmosphere of the 
human mind, when cleansed of self and permeated with 
divine Love, will reflect this purified subjective state in 
clearer skies, less thunderbolts, tornadoes, and extremes of 
heat and cold; that agriculture, manufacture, commerce, 
and wealth should be governed by honesty, indus- 
try, and justice, reaching out to all classes and peoples. 
For these signs of the times we thank our Father- 
Mother God. 



266 MISCELLANY 

[New York World, December, 1900] 

Insufficient Freedom 

To my sense, the most imminent dangers confronting 
the coming century are : the robbing of people of hf e and 
liberty under the warrant of the Scriptures; the claims of 
politics and of human power, industrial slavery, and insuf- 
ficient freedom of honest competition; and ritual, creed, 
and trusts in place of the Golden Rule, "Whatsoever ye 
would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them/* 

[Concord (N. H.) Monitor, July, 1902] 
Christian Science and the Times 

Your article on the decrease of students in the semi- 
naries and the consequent vacancies occurring in the 
pulpits, points unmistakably to the '^ signs of the times" 
of which Jesus spoke. This flux and flow in one direc- 
tion, so generally apparent, tends in one ultimate — the 
final spiritualization of all things, of all codes, modes, 
hypotheses, of man and the universe. How can it be 
otherwise, since God is Spirit and the origin of all that 
really is, and since this great fact is to be verified by the 
spiritualization of all? 

Since 1877, these special "signs of the times" have in- 
creased year by year. My book, "Science and Health 
with Key to the Scriptures," was published in 1875. 
Note, if you please, that many points in theology and 
materia medica, at that date undisturbed, are now agitated, 
modified, and disappearing, and the more spiritual modes 
and significations are adopted. 

It is undoubtedly true that Christian Science is destined 



HEAVEN 267 

to become the one and the only rehgion and therapeutics 
on this planet. And why not, since Christianity is fully 
demonstrated to be divine Science? Nothing can be cor- 
rect and continue forever which is not divinely scientific, 
for Science is the law of the Mind that is God, who is 
the originator of all that really is. The Scripture reads: 
"All things were made by Him; and without Him was 
not any thing made that was made." Here let us re- 
member that God is not the Alpha and Omega of man 
and the universe; He is supreme, infinite, the great for- 
ever, the eternal Mind that hath no beginning and no 
end, no Alpha and no Omega. 

[New York American, February, 1905] 

Heaven 

Is heaven spiritual? 

Heaven is spiritual. Heaven is harmony, — infinite, 
boundless bliss. The dying or the departed enter heaven 
in proportion to their progress, in proportion to their fit- 
ness to partake of the quality and the quantity of heaven. 
One individual may first awaken from his dream of life 
in matter with a sense of music; another with that of 
relief from fear or suffering, and still another with a bit- 
ter sense of lost opportunities and remorse. Heaven is 
the reign of divine Science. Material thought tends to 
obscure spiritual understanding, to darken the true con- 
ception of man's divine Principle, Love, wherein and 
whereby soul is emancipate and environed with ever- 
lasting Life. Our great Teacher hath said : " Behold, the 
kingdom of God is within you" — within man's spiritual 
understanding of all the divine modes, means, forms, ex- 
pression, and manifestation of goodness and happiness. 



268 MISCELLANY 

[Boston Herald, March 5, 1905] 

Prevention and Cure of Divorce 

The nuptial vow should never be annulled so long as 
the morale of marriage is preserved. The frequency of 
divorce shows that the imperative nature of the mar- 
riaga relation is losing ground, — hence that some funda- 
mental error is engrafted on it. What is this error? 
If the motives of human affection are right, the affec- 
tions are enduring and achieving. What God hath joined 
together, man cannot sunder. 

Divorce and war should be exterminated according to 
the Principle of law and gospel, — the maintenance of 
individual rights, the justice of civil codes, and the power 
of Truth uplifting the motives of men. Two command- 
ments of the Hebrew Decalogue, " Thou shalt not commit 
adultery" and "Thou shalt not kill," obeyed, will elimi- 
nate divorce and war. On what hath not a "Thus saith 
the Lord," I am as silent as the dumb centuries without 
a living Divina. 

This time-world flutters in my thought as an unreal 
shadow, and I can only solace the sore ills of mankind by 
a lively battle with "the world, the flesh and the devil," 
in which Love is the liberator and gives man the victory 
over himself. Truth, canonized by life and love, lays 
the axe at the root of all evil, lifts the curtain on the 
Science of being, the Science of wedlock, of living and of 
loving, and harmoniously ascends the scale of life. Look 
high enough, and you see the heart of humanity warming 
and winning. Look long enough, and you see male and 
female one — sex or gender eliminated ; you see the des- 
ignation man meaning woman as well, and you see the 



HARVEST 269 

whole universe included in one infinite Mind and reflected 
in the intelligent compound idea, image or likeness, called 
man, showing forth the infinite divine Principle, Love, 
called God, — man wedded to the Lamb, pledged to inno- 
cence, purity, perfection. Then shall humanity have 
learned that "they which shall be accounted worthy to 
obtain that world, and the resurrection from the dead, 
neither marry, nor are given in marriage: neither can 
they die any more: for they are equal unto the angels; 
and are the children of God." (Luke 20: 35, 36.) This, 
therefore, is Christ's plan of salvation from divorce. 

All are but parts of one stupendous whole, 
Whose body nature is, and God the Soul. 

— Pope. 

[The Independent, November, 1906] 
Harvest 

God hath thrust in the sickle, and He is separating the 
tares from the wheat. This hour is molten in the furnace 
of Soul. Its harvest song is world-wide, world-known, 
world-great. The vine is bringing forth its fruit; the 
beams of right have healing in their light. The windows 
of heaven are sending forth their rays of reality — even 
Christian Science, pouring out blessing for cursing, and 
rehearsing: "I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes, 
and he shall not destroy the fruits of your ground." 
"Prove me now herewith, saith the Lord of hosts, if I 
will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you 
out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to 
receive it." 

The lie and the liar are self-destroved. Truth is im- 



270 MISCELLANY 

mortal. "Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: ... for so 
persecuted they the prophets which were before you." 
The cycle of good obliterates the epicycle of evil. 

Because of the magnitude of their spiritual import, we 
repeat the signs of these times. In 1905, the First Con- 
gregational Church, my first religious home in this capital 
city of Concord, N. H., kindly invited me to its one hun- 
dred and seventy-fifth anniversary; the leading editors 
and newspapers of my native State congratulate me; the 
records of my ancestry attest honesty and valor. Divine 
Love, nearer my consciousness than before, saith: I am 
rewarding your waiting, and "thy people shall be my 
people." 

Let error rage and imagine a vain thing. Mary Baker 
Eddy is not dead, and the words of those who say that she 
is are the father of their wish. Her life is proven under 
trial, and evidences " as thy days, so shall thy strength be." 

Those words of our dear, departing Saviour, breathing 
love for his enemies, fill my heart: "Father, forgive them; 
for they know not what they do." My writings heal the 
sick, and I thank God that for the past forty years I 
have returned good for evil, and that I can appeal to 
Him as my witness to the truth of this statement. 

What we love determines what we are. I love the 
prosperity of Zion, be it promoted by Catholic, by Prot- 
estant, or by Christian Science, which anoints with 
Truth, opening the eyes of the blind and healing the sick. 
I would no more quarrel with a man because of his religion 
than I would because of his art. The divine Principle of 
Christian Science will ultimately be seen to control both 
religion and art in unity and harmony. God is Spirit, 
and " they that worship Him must worship Him in spirit 



MRS. EDDY'S HUMAN IDEAL 271 

and in truth." If, as the Scriptures declare, God, Spirit, 
is infinite, matter and material sense are null, and there 
are no vertebrata, moUusca, or radiata. 

When I wrote "Science and Health with Key to the 
Scriptures," I little understood all that I indited; but 
when I practised its precepts, healing the sick and reform- 
ing the sinner, then I learned the truth of what I had 
written. It is of comparatively little importance what a 
man thinks or believes he knows; the good that a man does 
is the one thing needful and the sole proof of rightness. 

[The Evening Press, Grand Rapids, Mich., August, 1907] 
Mks. Eddy Describes her Human Ideal 

In a modest, pleasantly situated home in the city of 
Concord, N. H., lives at eighty-six years of age the most 
discussed woman in all the worid. This lady with sweet 
smile and snowy hair is Mrs. Mary Baker Eddy, Founder 
and Leader of Christian Science, beloved of thousands 
of believers and followers of the thought that has made 
her famous. It was to this aged woman of worid-wide 
renown that the editor of The Evening Press addressed 
this question, requesting the courtesy of a reply : — 
"What is nearest and dearest to your heart to-day?" 
Mrs. Eddy's reply will be read with deep interest by all 
Americans, who, whatever their religious beliefs, cannot 
fail to be impressed by the personality of this remarkable 
woman. 

MRS. eddy's answer 

Editor of The Evening Press : — To your courtesy and 
to your question permit me to say that, insomuch as I 
know myself, what is "nearest and dearest" to my heart 



272 MISCELLANY 

is an honest man or woman — one who steadfastly and 
actively strives for perfection, one who leavens the loaf 
of life with justice, mercy, truth, and love. 

Goodness is greatness, and the logic of events pushes 
onward the centuries; hence the Scripture, "The law of 
the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me [man] free 
from the law of sin and death." 

This predicate and ultimate of scientific being presents, 
however, no claim that man is equal to God, for the finite 
is not the altitude of the infinite. 

The real man was, is, and ever shall be the divine ideal, 
that is, God's image and likeness ; and Christian Science 
reveals the divine Principle, the example, the rule, and 
the demonstration of this idealism. 

Sincerely yours, 

Maky Baker Eddy. 

Pleasant View, Concord, N. H. 

[Cosmopolitan, November, 1907] 

Youth and Young Manhood 

Editor's Note. — The Cosmopolitan presents this month to its 
readers a facsimile of an article sent to us by Mrs. Eddy, with the 
corrections on the manuscript reproduced in her own hand\\Titing. 
Not only Mrs. Eddy's own devoted followers, but the public gen- 
erally, will be interested in this communication from the extraordi- 
nary woman who, nearly eighty-seven years of age, plays so great 
a part in the world and leads with such conspicuous success her very 
great foUomng. 

Mrs. Eddy \\Tites very rarely for any publications outside of the 
Christian Science periodicals, and our readers will be interested in 
this presentation of the thought of a mind that has had so much 
influence on this generation. 

The Cosmopolitan gives no editorial indorsement to the teachings 



YOUTH AND YOUNG MANHOOD 273 

of Christian Science, it has no religious opinions or predilections to 
put before its readers. This manuscript is presented simply as an 
interesting and remarkable proof of Mrs. Eddy's ability in old age 
to vindicate in her own person the value of her teachings. 

Certainly, Christian Scientists, enthusiastic in their belief, are 
fortunate in being able to point to a Leader far beyond the allotted 
years of man, emerging triumphantly from all attacks upon her, and 
guiding with remarkable skill, determination, and energy a very 
great organization that covers practically the civilized world. 

King David, the Hebrew bard, sang, "I have been 
young, and now am old; yet have I not seen the right- 
eous forsaken, nor his seed begging bread." 

I for one accept his wise deduction, his ultimate or 
spiritual sense of thinking, feeling, and acting, and its 
reward. This sense of Tightness acquired by experience 
and wisdom, should be early presented to youth and to 
manhood in order to forewarn and forearm humanity. 

The ultimatum of life here and hereafter is utterly 
apart from a material or personal sense of pleasure, pain, 
joy, sorrow, life, and death. The truth of life, or life in 
truth, is a scientific knowledge that is portentous; and 
is won only by the spiritual understanding of Life as God, 
good, ever-present good, and therefore life eternal. 

You will agree with me that the material body is mortal, 
but Soul is immortal; also that the five personal senses 
are perishable : they lapse and relapse, come and go, until 
at length they are consigned to dust. But say you, 
"Man awakes from the dream of death in possession of 
the five personal senses, does he not?" Yes, because 
death alone does not awaken man in God's image 
and likeness. The divine Science of Life alone gives 

Copyright, 1907, by Mary Baker G. Eddy. 



274 MISCELLANY 

the true sense of life and of righteousness, and demon- 
strates the Principle of life eternal; even the Life that 
is Soul apart from the so-called life of matter or the 
material senses. 

Death alone does not absolve man from a false material 
sense of life, but goodness, holiness, and love do this, and 
so consummate man's being with the harmony of heaven; 
the omnipotence, omnipresence, and omniscience of Life, 
even its all-power, all-presence, all-Science. 

Dear reader, right thinking, right feeling, and right 
acting — honesty, purity, unselfishness — in youth tend 
to success, intellectuality, and happiness in manhood. 
To begin rightly enables one to end rightly, and thus it is 
that one achieves the Science of Life, demonstrates health, 
holiness, and immortality. 

[Boston Herald, April, 1908] 

Mrs. Eddy Sends Thanks 

Mrs. Mary Baker Eddy has sent the following to the 

Herald : — 

Will the dear Christian Scientists accept my thanks 
for their magnificent gifts, and allow me to say that I am 
not fond of an abundance of material presents; but I 
am cheered and blessed when beholding Christian healing, 
unity among brethren, and love to God and man; this 
is my crown of rejoicing, for it demonstrates Christian 
Science. 

The Psalmist sang, "That thy way may be known 
upon earth, thy saving health among all nations. " 



MRS. EDDY'S OWN DENIAL 275 

[Minneapolis (Minn.) News] 

Universal Fellowship 

Christian Science can and does produce universal 
fellowship. As the sequence of divine Love it explains 
love, it lives love, it demonstrates love. The human, 
material, so-called senses do not perceive this fact until 
they are controlled by divine Love; hence the Scripture, 
"Be still, and know that I am God." 

Brookline, Mass., 
May 1, 1908. 

[New York Herald] 

Mrs. Eddy's Own Denial that She is III 

Permit me to say, the report that I am sick (and I 
trust the desire thereof) is dead, and should be buried. 
Whereas the fact that I am well and keenly alive to the 
truth of being — the Love that is Life — is sure and stead- 
fast. I go out in my carriage daily, and have omitted 
my drive but twice since I came to Massachusetts. 
Either my work, the demands upon my time at home, or 
the weather, is all that prevents my daily drive. 

Working and praying for my dear friends' and my dear 
enemies' health, happiness, and holiness, the true sense 
of being goes on. 

Doing unto others as we would that they do by us, is 
immortality's self. Intrepid, self-oblivious love fulfils the 
law and is self-sustaining and eternal. With white-winged 
charity brooding over all, spiritually understood and de- 
monstrated, let us unite in one Te Deum of praise. 

Box G, Brookline, Mass., 
May 15, 1908. 



276 MISCELLANY 

[Christian Science Sentinel, May 16, 1908] 

To Whom It May Concern 

Since Mrs. Eddy is watched, as one watches a criminal 
or a sick person, she begs to say, in her own behalf, that 
she is neither; therefore to be criticized or judged by 
either a daily drive or a dignified stay at home, is super- 
fluous. When accumulating work requires it, or because 
of a preference to remain within doors she omits her 
drive, do not strain at gnats or swallow camels over 
it, but try to be composed and resigned to the shock- 
ing fact that she is minding her own business, and rec- 
ommends this surprising privilege to all her dear friends 

and enemies. ,^ t^ t-. 

Mary Baker Eddy. 

[Boston Post, November, 1908] 
Politics 

Mrs. Mary Baker Eddy has always believed that those 
who are entitled to vote should do so, and she has also 
believed that in such matters no one should seek to dictate 
the actions of others. 

In reply to a number of requests for an expression of 
her political views, she has given out this statement : — 

I am asked, "What are your politics? " I have none, in 
reality, other than to help support a righteous government; 
to love God supremely, and my neighbor as myself. 



CHAPTER XV 

PEACE AND WAR 

[Boston Herald, March, 1898] 
Other Ways than by War 

IN reply to your question, "Should difficulties between 
the United States and Spain be settled peacefully by 
statesmanship and diplomacy, in a way honorable and 
satisfactory to both nations?" I will say I can see no 
other way of settling difficulties between individuals and 
nations than by means of their wholesome tribunals, 
equitable laws, and sound, well-kept treaties. 

A bullet in a man's heart never settles the question of 
his life. The mental animus goes on, and urges that the 
answer to the sublime question as to man's life shall come 
from God and that its adjustment shall be according to 
His laws. The characters and lives of men determine the 
peace, prosperity, and life of nations. Killing men is 
not consonant with the higher law whereby wrong and 
injustice are righted and exterminated. 

Whatever weighs in the eternal scale of equity and 
mercy tips the beam on the right side, where the immortal 
words and deeds of men alone can settle all questions 
amicably and satisfactorily. But if our nation's rights or 
honor were seized, every citizen would be a soldier and 
woman would be armed with power girt for the hour. 

277 



278 MISCELLANY 

To coincide with God's government is the proper in- 
centive to the action of all nations. If His purpose for 
peace is to be subserved by the battle's plan or by the 
intervention of the United States, so that the Cubans 
may learn to make war no more, this means and end 
will be accomplished. 

The government of divine Love is supreme. Love rules 
the universe, and its edict hath gone forth: "Thou shalt 
have no other gods before me," and "Love thy neighbor 
as thyself." Let us have the molecule of faith that 
removes mountains, — faith armed with the understand- 
ing of Love, as in divine Science, where right reigneth. 
The revered President and Congress of our favored land 
are in God's hands. 

[Boston Globe, December, 1904] 
How Strife may be Stilled 

Follow that which is good. 

A Japanese may believe in a heaven for him who dies 
in defence of his country, but the steadying, elevating 
power of civilization destroys such illusions and should 
overcome evil with good. 

Nothing is gained by fighting, but much is lost. 

Peace is the promise and reward of Tightness. Gov- 
ernments have no right to engraft into civilization the 
burlesque of uncivil economics. War is in itself an evil, 
barbarous, devilish. Victory in error is defeat in Truth. 
War is not in the domain of good; war weakens power 
and must finally fall, pierced by its own sword. 

The Principle of all power is God, and God is Love. 
Whatever brings into human thought or action an ele- 



THE PRAYER FOR PEACE 279 

ment opposed to Love, is never requisite, never a neces- 
sity, and is not sanctioned by the law of God, the law 
of Love. The Founder of Christianity said: "My 
peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give 
I unto you." 

Christian Science reinforces Christ's sayings and doings. 
The Principle of Christian Science demonstrates peace. 
Christianity is the chain of scientific being reappearing in 
all ages, maintaining its obvious correspondence with the 
Scriptures and uniting all periods in the design of God. 
The First Commandment in the Hebrew Decalogue — 
"Thou shalt have no other gods before me" — obeyed, 
is sufficient to still all strife. God is the divine Mind. 
Hence the sequence: Had all peoples one Mind, peace 
would reign. 

God is Father, infinite, and this great truth, when 
understood in its divine metaphysics, will establish the 
brotherhood of man, end wars, and demonstrate "on 
earth peace, good will toward men." 

[Christian Science Sentinel, June 17, 1905] 

The Prayer for Peace 

Dearly Beloved : — I request that every member of The 
Mother Church of Christ, Scientist, in Boston, pray each 
day for the amicable settlement of the war between 
Russia and Japan; and pray that God bless that great 
nation and those islands of the sea with peace and 
prosperity. 

Mary Baker Eddy. 

Pleasant View, Concord, N. H., 
June 13, 1905. 



280 MISCELLANY 

Rev. Mary Baker Eddy, 

Pleasant View, Concord, N. H. 

Beloved Leader: — We acknowledge with rejoicing the 
receipt of your message, which again gives assurance of 
your watchful care and guidance in our behalf and of your 
loving solicitude for the welfare of the nations and the 
peaceful tranquillity of the race. We rejoice also in this 
new reminder from you that all the things which make for 
the establishment of a universal, loving brotherhood on 
earth may be accomplished through the righteous prayer 

which availeth much. 

William B. Johnson, Clerk. 
Boston, Mass., June 13, 1905. 

[Christian Science Sentinel, July 1, 1905] 

"Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God is one Lord" 

I now request that the members of my church cease 
special prayer for the peace of nations, and cease in full 
faith that God does not hear our prayers only because of 
oft speaking, but that He will bless all the inhabitants 
of the earth, and none can stay His hand nor say unto 
Him, What doest Thou? Out of His allness He must 
bless all with His own truth and love. 

Mary Baker Eddy. 

Pleasant View, Concord, N. H., 
June 27, 1905. 

[Christian Science Sentinel, July 22, 1905] 

An Explanation 

In no way nor manner did I request my church to cease 
praying for the peace of nations, but simply to pause in 
special prayer for peace. And why this asking? Because 



PRACTISE THE GOLDEN RULE 281 

a spiritual foresight of the nations' drama presented 
itself and awakened a wiser want, even to know how 
to pray other than the daily prayer of my church, — 
"Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it 
is in heaven." 

I cited, as our present need, faith in God's disposal of 
events. Faith full-fledged, soaring to the Horeb height, 
brings blessings infinite, and the spirit of this orison is the 
fruit of Tightness, — " on earth peace, good will toward 
men." On this basis the brotherhood of all peoples is 
established; namely, one God, one Mind, and "Love thy 
neighbor as thyself," the basis on which and by which 
the infinite God, good, the Father-Mother Love, is ours 
and we are His in divine Science. 

[Boston Globe, August, 1905] 
Practise the Golden Rule 

[Telegram] 

"Official announcement of peace between Russia and 
Japan seems to offer an appropriate occasion for the ex- 
pression of congratulations and views by representative 
persons. Will you do us the kindness to wire a sentiment 
on some phase of the subject, on the ending of the war, 
the effect on the two parties to the treaty of Portsmouth, 
the influence which President Roosevelt has exerted for 
peace, or the advancement of the cause of arbitration." 

MRS. eddy's reply 
To the Editor of the Globe : 

War will end when nations are ripe for progress. The 
treaty of Portsmouth is not an executive power, although 



282 MISCELLANY 

its purpose is good will towards men. The government of 
a nation is its peace maker or breaker. 

I believe strictly in the Monroe doctrine, in our Con- 
stitution, and in the laws of God. While I admire the 
faith and friendship of our chief executive in and for all 
nations, my hope must still rest in God, and the Scrip- 
tural injunction, — "Look unto me, and be ye saved, all 
the ends of the earth." 

The Douma recently adopted in Russia is no uncer- 
tain ray of dawn. Through the wholesome chastise- 
ments of Love, nations are helped onward towards 
justice, righteousness, and peace, which are the land- 
marks of prosperity. In order to apprehend more, 
we must practise what we already know of the Golden 
Rule, which is to all mankind a light emitting light. 

Mary Baker Eddy. 



Mrs. Eddy and the Peace Movement 

Mr. Hayne Davis, American Secretary, 
International Conciliation Committee, 
542 Fifth Avenue, New York City. 

Dear Mr. Davis : — Deeply do I thank you for the 
interest you manifest in the success of the Association 
for International Conciliation. It is of paramount im- 
portance to every son and daughter of all nations under 
the sunlight of the law and gospel. 

May God guide and prosper ever this good endeavor. 

Most truly yours, 

Mary Baker Eddy. 
Pleasant View, Concord, N. H., 
AprU 3, 1907. 



APPOINTMENT AS FONDATEUR 283 

Mrs. Eddy's Acknowledgment of Appointment 

as fondateur of the association for 

International Conciliation 

FiKST Church of Christ, Scientist, New York City, 
Mr. John D. Higgins, Clerk. 

My Beloved Brethren : — Your appointment of me as 
Fondateur of the Association for International Concilia- 
tion is most gracious. 

To aid in this holy purpose is the leading impetus of 
my life. Many years have I prayed and labored for the 
consummation of "on earth peace, good will toward 
men." May the fruits of said grand Association, preg- 
nant with peace, find their birthright in divine Science. 

Right thoughts and deeds are the sovereign remedies 
for all earth's woe. Sin is its own enemy. Right has its 
recompense, even though it be betrayed. Wrong may be 
a man's highest idea of right until his grasp of goodness 
grows stronger. It is always safe to be just. 

When pride, self, and human reason reign, injustice is 
rampant. 

Individuals, as nations, unite harmoniously on the basis 
of justice, and this is accomplished when self is lost in 
Love — or God's own plan of salvation. "To do justly, 
and to love mercy, and to walk humbly" is the stand- 
ard of Christian Science. 

Human law is right only as it patterns the divine. 
Consolation and peace are based on the enlightened sense 
of God's government. 

Lured by fame, pride, or gold, success is danger- 
ous, but the choice of folly never fastens on the good 



284 MISCELLANY 

or the great. Because of my rediscovery of Chris- 
tian Science, and honest efforts (however meagre) 
to help human purpose and peoples, you may have 
accorded me more than is deserved, — but 'tis sweet 
to be remembered. 

Lovingly yours, 

Mary Baker Eddy. 
Pleasant View, Concord, N. H., 
April 22, 1907. 

[Concord (N. H.) Daily Patriot] 

A Correction 

Dear Editor : — In the issue of your good paper, the 
Patriot, May 21, when referring to the Memorial service 
of the E. E. Sturtevant Post held in my church building, 
it read, "It is said to be the first time in the history of 
the church in this country that such an event has oc- 
curred." In your next issue please correct this mistake. 
Since my residence in Concord, 1889, the aforesaid 
Memorial service has been held annually in some church 
in Concord, N. H. 

When the Veterans indicated their desire to assemble 
in my church building, I consented thereto only as other 
churches had done. But here let me say that I am 
absolutely and religiously opposed to war, whereas I do 
believe implicitly in the full efficacy of divine Love to 
conciliate by arbitration all quarrels between nations 
and peoples. 

Mary Baker Eddy. 

Pleasant View, Concord, N. H., 
May 28, 1907. 



TO A STUDENT 285 

To A Student 

Dear Student : — Please accept my thanks for your 
kind invitation, on behalf of the Civic League of San 
Francisco, to attend the Industrial Peace Conference, 
and accept my hearty congratulations. 

I cannot spare the time requisite to meet with you; 
but I rejoice with you in all your wise endeavors for 
industrial, civic, and national peace. Whatever adorns 
Christianity crowns the great purposes of life and demon- 
strates the Science of being. Bloodshed, war, and op- 
pression belong to the darker ages, and shall be relegated 
to oblivion. 

It is a matter for rejoicing that the best, bravest, most 
cultured men and women of this period unite with us in 
the grand object embodied in the Association for Inter- 
national Conciliation. 

In Revelation 2:26, St. John says: "And he that 
overcometh, and keepeth my works unto the end, to 
him will I give power over the nations." In the words 
of St. Paul, I repeat : — 

"And they neither found me in the temple disputing 
with any man, neither raising up the people, neither 
in the synagogues, nor in the city: neither can they 
prove the things whereof they now accuse me. But 
this I confess unto thee, that after the way which 
they call heresy, so worship I the God of my fathers, 
believing all things which are written in the law and in 
the prophets." 

Most sincerely yours, 

Mary Baker Eddy. 

Pleasant View, Concord, N. H. 



286 MISCELLANY 

[The Christian Science Journal, May, 1908] 
War 

For many years I have prayed daily that there be 
no more war, no more barbarous slaughtering of our 
fellow-beings; prayed that all the peoples on earth and 
the islands of the sea have one God, one Mind; love 
God supremely, and love their neighbor as themselves. 

National disagreements can be, and should be, arbi- 
trated wisely, fairly; and fully settled. 

It is unquestionable, however, that at this hour 
the armament of navies is necessary, for the purpose 
of preventing war and preserving peace among nations. 



CHAPTER XVI 
TRIBUTES 

[ New York Mail and Express] 

Monument to Baron and Baroness de Hirsch 

THE movement to erect a monument to the late 
Baron and Baroness de Hirsch enhsts my hearty 
sympathy. They were unquestionably used in a re- 
markable degree as instruments of divine Love. 

Divine Love reforms, regenerates, giving to human 
weakness strength, serving as admonition, instruction, and 
governing all that really is. Divine Love is the noumenon 
and phenomenon, the Principle and practice of divine 
metaphysics. Love talked and not lived is a poor shift 
for the weak and worldly. Love lived in a court or cot 
is God exemplified, governing governments, industries, 
human rights, liberty, life. 

In love for man we gain the only and true sense of love 
for God, practical good, and so rise and still rise to His 
image and likeness, and are made partakers of that Mind 
whence springs the universe. 

Philanthropy is loving, ameliorative, revolutionary; it 
wakens lofty desires, new possibilities, achievements, and 
energies; it lays the axe at the root of the tree that 
bringeth not forth good fruit; it touches thought to 
spiritual issues, systematizes action, and insures success; 

287 



288 MISCELLANY 

it starts the wheels of right reason, revelation, justice, and 
mercy; it unselfs men and pushes on the ages. Love 
unfolds marvellous good and uncovers hidden evil. The 
philanthropist or reformer gives little thought to self- 
defence; his life's incentive and sacrifice need no apology. 
The good done and the good to do are his ever-present 
reward. 

Love for mankind is the elevator of the human race; 
it demonstrates Truth and reflects divine Love. Good is 
divinely natural. Evil is unnatural; it has no origin in 
the nature of God, and He is the Father of all. 

The great Galilean Prophet was, is, the reformer of re- 
formers. His piety partook not of the travesties of human 
opinions, pagan mysticisms, tribal religion, Greek phi- 
losophy, creed, dogma, or materia medica. The divine 
Mind was his only instrumentality in religion or medi- 
cine. The so-called laws of matter he eschewed; with 
him matter was not the auxiliary of Spirit. He never 
appealed to matter to perform the functions of Spirit, 
divine Love. 

Jesus cast out evil, disease, death, showing that all 
suffering is commensurate with sin; therefore, he cast 
out devils and healed the sick. He showed that every 
effect or amplification of wrong will revert to the wrong- 
doer; that sin punishes itself; hence his saying, *'Sin 
no more, lest a worse thing come unto thee." Love 
atones for sin through love that destroys sin. His rod 
is love. 

We cannot remake ourselves, but we can make the 
best of what God has made. We can know that all is 
good because God made all, and that evil is not a 
fatherly grace. 



TRIBUTES TO QUEEN VICTORIA 289 

All education is work. The thing most important is 
what we do, not what we say. God's open secret is seen 
through grace, truth, and love. 

I enclose a check for five hundred dollars for the 
De Hirsch monument fund. 

Tributes to Queen Victoria 

Mr. William B. Johnson, C.S.B., Clerk. 

Beloved Student : — I deem it proper that The Mother 
Church of Christ, Scientist, in Boston, Massachusetts, the 
first church of Christian Science known on earth, should 
upon this solemn occasion congregate; that a special meet- 
ing of its First Members convene for the sacred purpose of 
expressing our deep sympathy with the bereaved nation, 
its loss and the world's loss, in the sudden departure of 
the late lamented Victoria, Queen of Great Britain and 
Empress of India, — long honored, revered, beloved. 
"God save the Queen" is heard no more in England, but 
this shout of love lives on in the heart of millions. 

With love, 

Mary Baker Eddy. 

Pleasant View, Concord, N. H., 
January 27, 1901. 

It being inconvenient for me to attend the memorial 
meeting in the South Congregational church on Sunday 
evening, February 3, 1 herewith send a few words of con- 
dolence, which may be read on that tender occasion. 

I am interested in a meeting to be held in the capi- 
tal of my native State in memoriam of the late lamented 
Victoria, Queen of Great Britain and Empress of India. 



290 MISCELLANY 

It betokens a love and a loss felt by the strong hearts 
of New England and the United States. When contem- 
plating this sudden international bereavement, the near 
seems afar, the distant nigh, and the tried and true seem 
few. The departed Queen's royal and imperial honors 
lose their lustre in the tomb, but her personal virtues can 
never be lost. Those live on in the affection of nations. 

Few sovereigns have been as venerable, revered, and 
beloved as this noble woman, born in 1819, married in 
1840, and deceased the first month of the new century. 

Letter to Mrs. McKinley 

My Bear Mrs. McKinley: — My soul reaches out to God 
for your support, consolation, and victory. Trust in Him 
whose love enfolds thee. " Thou wilt keep him in perfect 
peace, whose mind is stayed on Thee : because he trusteth 
in Thee." "Out of the depths have I cried unto Thee." 
Divine Love is never so near as when all earthly joys seem 
most afar. 

Thy tender husband, our nation's chief magistrate, has 
passed earth's shadow into Life's substance. Through 
a momentary mist he beheld the dawn. He awaits to 
welcome you where no arrow wounds the eagle soaring, 
where no partings are for love, where the high and holy 
call you again to meet. 

" I knew that Thou hearest me always," are the words of 
him who suffered and subdued sorrow. Hold this attitude 
of mind, and it will remove the sackcloth from thy home. 

With love, 

Mary Baker Eddy. 

Pleasant View, Concoed, N. H., 
September 14, 1901. 



TRIBUTE TO PRESIDENT McKINLEY 291 

Teibute to President McKinley 

Imperative, accumulative, holy demands rested on the 
life and labors of our late beloved President, William 
McKinley. Presiding over the destinies of a nation 
meant more to him than a mere rehearsal of aphorisms, 
a uniting of breaches soon to widen, a quiet assent or dis- 
sent. His work began with heavy strokes, measured 
movements, reaching from the infinitesimal to the 
infinite. It began by warming the marble of politics 
into zeal according to wisdom, quenching the vol- 
canoes of partizanship, and uniting the interests of all 
peoples; and it ended with a universal good overcoming 
evil. 

His home relations enfolded a wealth of affection, — a 
tenderness not talked but felt and lived. His humanity, 
weighed in the scales of divinity, was not found wanting. 
His public intent was uniform, consistent, sympathetic, 
and so far as it fathomed the abyss of difficulties was 
wise, brave, unselfed. May his history waken a tone 
of truth that shall reverberate, renew euphony, empha- 
size humane power, and bear its banner into the vast 
forever. 

While our nation's ensign of peace and prosperity 
waves over land and sea, while her reapers are strong, 
her sheaves garnered, her treasury filled, she is suddenly 
stricken, — called to mourn the loss of her renowned 
leader! Tears blend with her triumphs. She stops to 
think, to mourn, yea, to pray, that the God of harvests 
send her more laborers, who, while they work for their 
own country, shall sacredly regard the liberty of other 
peoples and the rights of man. 



292 MISCELLANY 

What cannot love and righteousness achieve for the 
race? All that can be accomplished, and more than his- 
tory has yet recorded. All good that ever was written, 
taught, or wrought comes from God and human faith in 
the right. Through divine Love the right government is 
assimilated, the way pointed out, the process shortened, 
and the joy of acquiescence consummated. May God 
sanctify our nation's sorrow in this wise, and His rod 
and His staff comfort the living as it did the departing. 
O may His love shield, support, and comfort the chief 
mourner at the desolate home ! 



PowEK OF Prayer 

My answer to the inquiry, " Why did Christians of every 
sect in the United States fail in their prayers to save 
the life of President McKinley," is briefly this: Insuffi- 
cient faith or spiritual understanding, and a compound of 
prayers in which one earnest, tender desire works uncon- 
sciously against the modus operandi of another, would 
prevent the result desired. In the June, 1901, Message 
to my church in Boston, I refer to the effect of one 
human desire or belief unwittingly neutralizing another, 
though both are equally sincere. 

In the practice of materia medica, croton oil is not mixed 
with morphine to remedy dysentery, for those drugs are 
supposed to possess opposite qualities and so to produce 
opposite effects. The spirit of the prayer of the righteous 
heals the sick, but this spirit is of God, and the divine 
Mind is the same yesterday, to-day, and forever; where- 
as the human mind is a compound of faith and doubt, 
of fear and hope, of faith in truth and faith in error. 






POWER OF PRAYER 293 

The knowledge that all things are possible to God ex- 
cludes doubt, but differing human concepts as to the 
divine power and purpose of infinite Mind, and the so- 
called power of matter, act as the different properties of 
drugs are supposed to act — one against the other — and 
this compound of mind and matter neutralizes itself. 

Our lamented President, in his loving acquiescence, 
believed that his martyrdom was God's way. Hun- 
dreds, thousands of others believed the same, and hun- 
dreds of thousands who prayed for him feared that the 
bullet would prove fatal. Even the physicians may have 
feared this. 

These conflicting states of the human mind, of trembling 
faith, hope, and of fear, evinced a lack of the absolute 
understanding of God's omnipotence, and thus they pre- 
vented the power of absolute Truth from reassuring the 
mind and through the mind resuscitating the body of 
the patient. 

The divine power and poor human sense — yea, the spirit 
and the flesh — struggled, and to mortal sense the flesh pre- 
vailed. Had prayer so fervently offered possessed no 
opposing element, and President McKinley's recovery 
been regarded as wholly contingent on the power of God, 
— on the power of divine Love to overrule the pur- 
poses of hate and the law of Spirit to control matter, — 
the result would have been scientific, and the patient 
would have recovered. 

St. Paul writes: "For the law of the Spirit of life in 
Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and 
death." And the Saviour of man saith: "What things 
soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive 
them, and ye shall have them." Human governments 



294 MISCELLANY 

maintain the right of the majority to rule. Christian 
Scientists are yet in a large minority on the subject of 
divine metaphysics; but they improve the morals and the 
lives of men, and they heal the sick on the basis that God 
has all power, is omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent, 
supreme over all. 

In a certain city the Master "did not many mighty 
works there because of their unbelief," — because of the 
mental counteracting elements, the startled or the un- 
righteous contradicting minds of mortals. And if he were 
personally with us to-day, he would rebuke whatever 
accords not with a full faith and spiritual knowledge of 
God. He would mightily rebuke a single doubt of the 
ever-present power of divine Spirit to control all the con- 
ditions of man and the universe. 

If the skilful surgeon or the faithful M.D. is not dis- 
mayed by a fruitless use of the knife or the drug, has not 
the Christian Scientist with his conscious understanding 
of omnipotence, in spite of the constant stress of the 
hindrances previously mentioned, reason for his faith in 
what is shown him by God's works? 

On the Death of Pope Leo XIIL, July 20, 1903 

The sad, sudden announcement of the decease of Pope 
Leo XIIL, touches the heart and will move the pen of 
millions. The intellectual, moral, and religious energy 
of this illustrious pontiff have animated the Church of 
Rome for one quarter of a century. The august ruler 
of two hundred and fifty million human beings has now 
passed through the shadow of death into the great forever. 
The court of the Vatican mourns him; his relatives 
shed "the unavailing tear." He is the loved and lost 



A BENEDICTION 295 

of many millions. I sympathize with those who mourn, 
but rejoice in knowing our dear God comforts such with 
the blessed assurance that life is not lost; its influence 
remains in the minds of men, and divine Love holds 
its substance safe in the certainty of immortality. 
"In Him was life; and the life was the light of men." 
(John 1:4.) 

A Tribute to the Bible 

Letter of Thanks for the Gift of a Copy of Martin Luther's 
Translation into German of the Bible, printed in Nurem- 
berg IN 1733 

Bear Student : — I am in grateful receipt of your time- 
worn Bible in German. This Book of books is also the 
gift of gifts; and kindness in its largest, profoundest 
sense is goodness. It was kind of you to give it to me. 
I thank you for it. 

Christian Scientists are fishers of men. The Bible is 
our sea-beaten rock. It guides the fishermen. It stands 
the storm. It engages the attention and enriches the 
being of all men. 

A Benediction 

[Copy of Cablegram] 

Countess of Dunmore and Family, 

55 Lancaster Gate, West, London, England. 

Divine Love is your ever-present help. You, I, and 
mankind have cause to lament the demise of Lord Dun- 
more; but as the Christian Scientist, the servant of God 
and man, he still lives, loves, labors. 

Mary Baker Eddy. 
Pleasant View, Concord, N. H., 
August 31, 1907. 



296 MISCELLANY 

Hon. Clakence A. Buskirk's Lecture 

The able discourse of our "learned judge/' his flash of 
flight and insight, lays the axe "unto the root of the 
trees/' and shatters whatever hinders the Science of 

^^'''^* Mary Baker Eddy. 

Pleasant View, Concord, N. H., 
October 14, 1907. 

"Hear, O Israel" 

The late lamented Christian Scientist brother and the 
publisher of my books, Joseph Armstrong, C.S.D., is not 
dead, neither does he sleep nor rest from his labors in 
divine Science; and his works do follow him. Evil has no 
power to harm, to hinder, or to destroy the real spiritual 
man. He is wiser to-day, healthier and happier, than 
yesterday. The mortal dream of life, substance, or mind 
in matter, has been lessened, and the reward of good 
and punishment of evil and the waking out of his Adam- 
dream of evil will end in harmony, — evil powerless, and 
God, good, omnipotent and infinite. 

M.iRY Baker Eddy. 

Pleasant View, Concord, N. H., 
December 10, 1907. 

Miss Clara Barton 

In the New York American, January 6, 1908, Miss 
Clara Barton dipped her pen in my heart, and traced its 
emotions, motives, and object. Then, lifting the curtains 
of mortal mind, she depicted its rooms, guests, standing 
and seating capacity, and thereafter gave her discovery 



MRS. EDDY'S HISTORY 297 

to the press. Now if Miss Barton were not a venerable 
soldier, patriot, philanthropist, moralist, and states- 
woman, I should shrink from such salient praise. But 
in consideration of all that Miss Barton really is, 
and knowing that she can bear the blows which may 
follow said description of her soul-visit, I will say. Amen, 

Mary Baker Eddy. 

Pleasant View, Concord, N. H,, 
January 10, 1908. 

There is No Death 

A suppositional gust of evil in this evil world is the 
dark hour that precedes the dawn. This gust blows 
away the baubles of belief, for there is in reality no evil, 
no disease, no death; and the Christian Scientist who 
believes that he dies, gains a rich blessing of disbelief in 
death, and a higher realization of heaven. 

My beloved Edward A. Kimball, whose clear, correct 
teaching of Christian Science has been and is an inspira- 
tion to the whole field, is here now as veritably as when 
he visited me a year ago. If we would awaken to this 
recognition, we should see him here and realize that he 
never died; thus demonstrating the fundamental truth 

of Christian Science. -.^ -r, -n< 

Mary Baker Eddy. 

Mrs. Eddy's History 

I have not had sufficient interest in the matter to read 
or to note from others' reading what the enemies of 
Christian Science are said to be circulating regarding my 
history, but my friends have read Sibyl Wilbur's book. 



298 MISCELLANY 

"The Life of Mary Baker Eddy," and request the privi- 
lege of buying, circulating, and recommending it to the 
public. I briefly declare that nothing has occurred in my 
life's experience which, if correctly narrated and under- 
stood, could injure me; and not a little is already re- 
ported of the good accomplished therein, the self-sacrifice, 
etc., that has distinguished all my working years. 

I thank Miss Wilbur and the Concord Publishing Com- 
pany for their unselfed labors in placing this book before 
the public, and hereby say that they have my permission 
to publish and circulate this work. 

Mary Baker Eddy. 



CHAPTER XVII 

ANSWERS TO CRITICISMS 

[Letter to the New York Commercial Advertiser] 

Christian Science and the Church 

OVER the signature "A Priest of the Church," 
somebody, kindly referring to my address to First 
Church of Christ, Scientist, in Concord, N. H., writes: 
"If they [Christian Scientists] have any truth to reveal 
which has not been revealed by the church or the Bible, 
let them make it known to the world, before they claim 
the allegiance of mankind." 

I submit that Christian Science has been widely made 
known to the world, and that it contains the entire 
truth of the Scriptures, as also whatever portions of truth 
may be found in creeds. In addition to this. Christian 
Science presents the demonstrable divine Principle and 
rules of the Bible, hitherto undiscovered in the trans- 
lations of the Bible and lacking in the creeds. 

Therefore I query: Do Christians, who believe in sin, 
and especially those who claim to pardon sin, believe 
that God is good, and that God is Allf Christian 
Scientists firmly subscribe to this statement; yea, they 
understand it and the law governing it, namely, that 
God, the divine Principle of Christian Science, is 

299 



300 MISCELLANY 

"of purer eyes than to behold evil." On this basis they 
endeavor to cast out the belief in sin or in aught 
besides God, thus enabling the sinner to overcome 
sin according to the Scripture, "Work out your own 
salvation with fear and trembling. For it is God which 
worketh in you both to will and to do of His good 
pleasure." 

Does he who believes in sickness know or declare that 
there is no sickness or disease, and thus heal disease? 
Christian Scientists, who do not believe in the reality 
of disease, heal disease, for the reason that the divine 
Principle of Christian Science, demonstrated, heals the 
most inveterate diseases. Does he who believes in 
death understand or aver that there is no death, and 
proceed to overcome "the last enemy" and raise the 
dying to health? Christian Scientists raise the dying to 
health in Christ's name, and are striving to reach the 
summit of Jesus' words, "If a man keep my saying, he 
shall never see death. '^ 

If, as this kind priest claims, these things, inseparable 
from Christian Science, are common to his church, we 
propose that he make known his doctrine to the world, 
that he teach the Christianity which heals, and send out 
students according to Christ's command, "Go ye into all 
the world, and preach the gospel to every creature," 
"Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast 
out devils." 

The tree is known by its fruit. If, as he implies. 
Christian Science is not a departure from the first cen- 
tury churches, — as surely it is not, — why persecute 
it? Are the churches opening fire on their own religious 
ranks, or are they attacking a peaceable party quite 



FAITH IN METAPHYSICS 301 

their antipode? Christian Science is a reflected glory; 
it shines with borrowed rays — from Light emitting hght. 
Christian Science is the new-old Christianity, that which 
was and is the revelation of divine Love. 

The present flux in religious faith may be found to be 
a healthy fermentation, by which the lees of religion will 
be lost, dogma and creed will pass off in scum, leaving a 
solid Christianity at the bottom — a foundation for the 
builders. I would that all the churches on earth could 
unite as brethren in one prayer: Father, teach us the 
life of Love. 

Pleasant View, Concord, N. H., 
March 22, 1899. 

[Letter to the New York World] 
Faith in Metaphysics 

Is faith in divine metaphysics insanity? 

All sin is insanity, but healing the sick is not sin. 
There is a universal insanity which mistakes fable for 
fact throughout the entire testimony of the material 
senses. Those unfortunate people who are committed to 
insane asylums are only so many well-defined instances 
of the baneful effects of illusion on mortal minds and 
bodies. The supposition that we can correct insanity 
by the use of drugs is in itself a species of insanity. A 
drug cannot of itself go to the brain or afl^ect cerebral 
conditions in any manner whatever. Drugs cannot 
remove inflammation, restore disordered functions, or 
destroy disease without the aid of mind. 

If mind be absent from the body, drugs can produce 
no curative effect upon the body. The mind must 



302 MISCELLANY 

be, is, the vehicle of all modes of healing disease and of 
producing disease. Through the mandate of mind or 
according to a man's belief, can he be helped or be killed 
by a drug; but mind, not matter, produces the result in 
either case. 

Neither life nor death, health nor disease, can be pro- 
duced on a corpse, whence mind has departed. This 
self-evident fact is proof that mind is the cause of all 
effect made manifest through so-called matter. The 
general craze is that matter masters mind; the specific 
insanity is that brain, matter, is insane. 

[Letter to the New York Herald] 

» 

Reply to ]\iARK Twain 

It is a fact well understood that I begged the students 
who first gave me the endearing appellative "Mother,'' 
not to name me thus. But without my consent, the use 
of the word spread like wildfire. I still must think the 
name is not applicable to me. I stand in relation to 
this century as a Christian Discoverer, Founder, and 
Leader. I regard self -deification as blasphemous. I may 
be more loved, but I am less lauded, pampered, provided 
for, and cheered than others before me — and where- 
fore? Because Christian Science is not yet popular, and 
I refuse adulation. 

My first visit to The Mother Church after it was built 
and dedicated pleased me, and the situation was satisfac- 
tory. The dear members wanted to greet me with escort 
and the ringing of bells, but I declined and went alone in 
my carriage to the church, entered it, and knelt in thanks 
upon the steps of its altar. There the foresplendor of 



REPLY TO MARK TWAIN 303 

the beginnings of truth fell mysteriously upon my spirit. 
I believe in one Christ, teach one Christ, know of but 
one Christ. I believe in but one incarnation, one Mother 
Mary. I know that I am not that one, and I have never 
claimed to be. It suffices me to learn the Science of the 
Scriptures relative to this subject. 

Christian Scientists have no quarrel with Protestants, 
Catholics, or any other sect. Christian Scientists need to 
be understood as following the divine Principle — God, 
Love — and not imagined to be unscientific worshippers 
of a human being. 

In his article, of which I have seen only extracts, Mark 
Twain's wit was not wasted in certain directions. Chris- 
tian Science eschews divine rights in human beings. 
If the individual governed human consciousness, my 
statement of Christian Science would be disproved; 
but to demonstrate Science and its pure monotheism 
— one God, one Christ, no idolatry, no human propa- 
ganda — it is essential to understand the spiritual idea. 
Jesus taught and proved that what feeds a few feeds 
all. His life-work subordinated the material to the 
spiritual, and he left his legacy of truth to man- 
kind. His metaphysics is not the sport of philosophy, 
religion, or science; rather is it the pith and finale of 
them all. 

I have not the inspiration nor the aspiration to be 
a first or second Virgin-mother — her duplicate, ante- 
cedent, or subsequent. What I am remains to be proved 
by the good I do. W^e need much humility, wisdom, 
and love to perform the functions of foreshadowing and 
foretasting heaven within us. This glory is molten in 
the furnace of affliction. 



304 MISCELLANY 

[Boston Journal, June 8, 1903] 

A Misstatement Corrected 

I was early a pupil of Miss Sarah J. Bodwell, the 
principal of Sanbornton Academy, New Hampshire, and 
finished my course of studies under Professor Dyer 
H. Sanborn, author of Sanborn's Grammar. Among 
my early studies w^ere Comstock's Natural Philosophy, 
Chemistry, Blair's Rhetoric, Whateley's Logic, Watt's 
"On the Mind and Moral Science." At sixteen years 
of age, I began writing for the leading newspapers, and 
for many years I wrote for the best magazines in the 
South and North. I have lectured in large and crowded 
halls in New York City, Chicago, Boston, Portland, 
and at Waterville College, and have been invited to 
lecture in London, England, and Edinburgh, Scotland. 
In 1883, I started The Christian Science Journal, and 
for several years was the proprietor and sole editor of 
that periodical. In 1893, Judge S. J. Hanna became 
editor of The Christian Science Journal, and for ten 
subsequent years he knew my ability as an editor. In 
a lecture in Chicago, he said: "Mrs. Eddy is from 
every point of view a woman of sound education and 
liberal culture." 

Agassiz, the celebrated naturalist and author, wisely 
said: "Every great scientific truth goes through three 
stages. First, people say it conflicts with the Bible. 
Next, they say it has been discovered before. Lastly, 
they say they have always believed it." 

The first attack upon me was : Mrs. Eddy misinterprets 
the Scriptures; second, she has stolen the contents of her 
book, "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures," 



A PLEA FOR JUSTICE 305 

from one P. P. Quimby (an obscure, uneducated man), 
and that he is the founder of Christian Science. Faihng 
in these attempts, the calumniator has resorted to Ralph 
Waldo Emerson's philosophy as the authority for Christian 
Science! Lastly, the defamer will declare as honestly (?), 
"I have always known it." 

In Science and Health, page 68, third paragraph, I 
briefly express myself unmistakably on the subject of 
"vulgar metaphysics," and the manuscripts and letters 
in my possession, which "vulgar" defamers have circu- 
lated, stand in evidence. People do not know who is 
referred to as "an ignorant woman in New Hampshire." 
Many of the nation's best and most distinguished men 
and women were natives of the Granite State. 

I am the author of the Christian Science textbook, 
"Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures;" and 
the demand for this book constantly increases. I am 
rated in the National Magazine (1903) as "standing 
eighth in a list of twenty-two of the foremost living 
authors." 

I claim no special merit of any kind. All that I am 
in reality, God has made me. I still wait at the cross to 
learn definitely more from my great Master, but not 
of the Greek nor of the Roman schools — simply how to 
do his works. 

A Plea for Justice 

My recent reply to the reprint of a scandal in the 
Literary Digest was not a question of "Who shall be 
greatest?" but of "Who shall be just?" Who is or is 
not the founder of Christian Science was not the trend 
of thought, but my purpose was to lift the curtain on 



306 MISCELLANY 

^Tong, on falsehood which persistently misrepresents 
my character, education, and authorship, and attempts 
to narrow my life into a conflict for fame. 

Far be it from me to tread on the ashes of the dead or 
to dissever any unity that may exist between Christian 
Science and the philosophy of a great and good man, for 
such w^as Ralph Waldo Emerson; and I deem it unTNdse to 
enter into a newspaper controversy over a question that 
is no longer a question. The false should be antagonized 
only for the purpose of making the true apparent. I have 
quite another purpose in life than to be thought great. 
Time and goodness determine greatness. The greatest 
reform, with almost unutterable truths to translate, 
must wait to be transfused into the practical and 
to be understood in the "new tongue." Age, with 
experience-acquired patience and unselfed love, waits 
on God. Human merit or demerit will find its proper 
level. Divinity alone solves the problem of human- 
ity, and that in God's own time. "By their fruits ye 
shall know them.'' 

Reminiscences 

In 1861, when I first visited Dr. Quimby of Portland, 
Me., his scribblings were descriptions of his patients, and 
these comprised the manuscripts which in 1887 I adver- 
tised that I would pay for having published. Before his 
decease, in January, 1866, Dr. Quimby had tried to get 
them published and had failed. 

Quotations have been pubhshed, purporting to be Dr. 
Quimby's own words, which were written while I was his 
patient in Portland and holding long conversations with 
Mm on my view^s of mental therapeutics. Some words in 



REMINISCENCES 307 

these quotations certainly read like words that I said to 
him, and which I, at his request, had added to his 
copy when I corrected it. In his conversations with 
me and in his scribblings, the word science was not 
used at all, till one day I declared to him that back 
of his magnetic treatment and manipulation of patients, 
there was a science, and it was the science of mind, 
which had nothing to do with matter, electricity, or 
physics. 

After this I noticed he used that word, as well as other 
terms which I employed that seemed at first new to him. 
He even acknowledged this himself, and startled me by 
saying what I cannot forget — it was this : " I see now 
what you mean, and I see that I am John, and that you 
are Jesus." 

At that date I was a staunch orthodox, and my theologi- 
cal belief was offended by his saying and I entered a de- 
murrer which rebuked him. But afterwards I concluded 
that he only referred to the coming anew of Truth, which 
we both desired; for in some respects he was quite a seer 
and understood what I said better than some others did. 
For one so unlearned, he was a remarkable man. Had 
his remark related to my personality, I should still think 
that it was profane. 

At first my case improved wonderfully under his 
treatment, but it relapsed. I was gradually emerging 
from materia medica, dogma, and creeds, and drifting 
whither I knew not. This mental struggle might have 
caused my illness. The fallacy of materia medica, its 
lack of science, and the want of divinity in scholas- 
tic theology, had already dawned on me. My ideal- 
ism, however, limped, for then it lacked Science. But 



308 MISCELLANY 

the divine Love will accomplish what all the powers 
of earth combined can never prevent being accom- 
plished — the advent of divine healing and its divine 
Science. 

Reply to McClure's Magazine 

It is calumny on Christian Science to say that man is 
aroused to thought or action only by ease, pleasure, or 
recompense. Something higher, nobler, more imperative 
impels the impulse of Soul. 

It becomes my duty to be just to the departed and to 
tread not ruthlessly on their ashes. The attack on me 
and my late father and his family in McClure's Alagazine, 
January, 1907, compels me as a dutiful child and the 
Leader of Christian Science to speak. 

McClure's Magazine refers to my father's "tall, gaunt 
frame" and pictures "the old man tramping doggedly 
along the highway, regularly beating the ground with a 
huge walking-stick." My father's person was erect and 
robust. He never used a walking-stick. To illustrate: 
One time when my father was visiting Governor Pierce, 
President Franklin Pierce's father, the Governor handed 
him a gold-headed walking-stick as they were about to 
start for church. My father thanked the Governor, 
but declined to accept the stick, saying, "I never use 
a cane." 

Although McClure's Magazine attributes to my father 
language unseemly, his household law, constantly en- 
forced, was no profanity and no slang phrases. McClure's 
Magazine also declares that the Bible was the only book 
in his house. On the contrary, my father was a great 
reader. The man whom McClure's Magazine characterizes 



REPLY TO McCLURE'S MAGAZINE 309 

as "ignorant, dominating, passionate, fearless," was 
uniformly dignified — a well-informed, intellectual man, 
cultivated in mind and manners. He was called upon 
to do much business for his town, making out deeds, 
settling quarrels, and even acting as counsel in a lawsuit 
involving a question of pauperism between the towns of 
Loudon and Bow, N. H. Franklin Pierce, afterwards 
President of the United States, was the counsel for 
Loudon and Mark Baker for Bow. Both entered their 
pleas, and my father won the suit. After it was decided, 
Mr. Pierce bowed to my father and congratulated him. 
For several years father was chaplain of the New 
Hampshire State Militia, and as I recollect it, he was 
justice of the peace at one time. My father was a 
strong believer in States' rights, but slavery he regarded 
as a great sin. 

Mark Baker was the youngest of his father's family, and 
inherited his father's real estate, an extensive farm situ- 
ated in Bow and Concord, N. H. It is on record that 
Mark Baker's father paid the largest tax in the colony. 
McClure's Magazine says, describing the Baker home- 
stead at Bow: "The house itself was a small, square box 
building of rudimentary architecture." My father's 
house had a sloping roof, after the prevailing style of 
architecture at that date. 

McClure's Magazine states: "Alone of the Bakers, he 
[Albert] received a liberal education. . . . Mary Baker 
passed her first fifteen years at the ancestral home at Bow. 
It was a lonely and unstimulating existence. The church 
supplied the only social diversions, the district school 
practically all the intellectual life." 

Let us see what were the fruits of this "lonely and 



310 MISCELLANY 

unstimulating existence." All my father's daughters were 
given an academic education, sufficiently advanced so that 
they all taught school acceptably at various times and 
places. My brother Albert was a distinguished lawyer. 
In addition to my academic training, I was privately 
tutored by him. He was a member of the New Hamp- 
shire Legislature, and was nominated for Congress, but 
died before the election. McClure's Magazine calls my 
youngest brother, George Sullivan Baker, " a workman in 
a Tilton woolen mill." As a matter of fact, he was joint 
partner with Alexander Tilton, and together they owned a 
large manufacturing establishment in Tilton, N. H. His 
military title of Colonel came from appointment on the 
staff of the Governor of New Hampshire. My oldest 
brother, Samuel D. Baker, carried on a large business in 
Boston, Mass. 

Regarding the allegation by McClure's Magazine that all 
the family, "excepting Albert, died of cancer," I will 
say that there was never a death in my father's family 
reported by physician or post-mortem examination as 
caused by cancer. 

McClure's Magazine says that "the quarrels between 
Mary, a child ten years old, and her father, a gray-haired 
man of fifty, frequently set the house in an uproar," 
and adds that these "fits" were diagnosed by Dr. Ladd 
as "hysteria mingled with bad temper." My mother 
often presented my disposition as exemplary for her other 
children to imitate, saying, "When do you ever see 
Mary angry?" When the first edition of Science and 
Health was published, Dr. Ladd said to Alexander Tilton : 
"Read it, for it will do you good. It does not surprise 
me, it so resembles the author." 



REPLY TO McCLURE'S MAGAZINE 311 

I will relate the following incident, which occurred later 
in life, as illustrative of my disposition : — 

While I was living with Dr. Patterson at his country 
home in North Groton, N. H., a girl, totally blind, knocked 
at the door and was admitted. She begged to be allowed 
to remain with me, and my tenderness and sympathy were 
such that I could not refuse her. Shortly after, however, 
my good housekeeper said to me : " If this blind girl stays 
with you, I shall have to leave; she troubles me so much.^' 
It was not in my heart to turn the blind girl out, and so 
I lost my housekeeper. 

My reply to the statement that the clerk's book shows 
that I joined the Tilton Congregational Church at the age 
of seventeen is that my religious experience seemed to 
culminate at twelve years of age. Hence a mistake may 
have occurred as to the exact date of my first church 
membership. 

The facts regarding the McNeil coat-of-arms are as 
follows : — 

Fanny McNeil, President Pierce's niece, afterwards 
Mrs. Judge Potter, presented me my coat-of-arms, say- 
ing that it was taken in connection with her own family 
coat-of-arms. I never doubted the veracity of her gift. 
I have another coat-of-arms, which is of my mother's 
ancestry. When I was last in Washington, D. C, Mrs. 
Judge Potter and myself knelt in silent prayer on the 
mound of her late father. General John McNeil, the 
hero of Lundy Lane. 

Notwithstanding that McClure's Magazine says, "Mary 
Baker completed her education when she finished Smith's 
grammar and reached long division in arithmetic," I was 
called by the Rev. R. S. Rust, D.D., Principal of the 



312 MISCELLANY 

Methodist Conference Seminary at Sanbornton Bridge, to 
supply the place of his leading teacher during her tempo- 
rary absence. 

Regarding my first marriage and the tragic death of my 
husband, McClure's Magazine says: "He [George Wash- 
ington Glover] took his bride to Wilmington, South Caro- 
lina, and in June, 1844, six months after his marriage, he 
died of yellow fever. He left his young wife in a miser- 
able plight. She was far from home and entirely without 
money or friends. Glover, however, was a Free Mason, 
and thus received a decent burial. The Masons also paid 
Mrs. Glover's fare to New York City, where she was 
met and taken to her father's home by her brother George. 
. . . Her position was an embarrassing one. She was a 
grown woman, with a child, but entirely without means 
of support. . . . Mrs. Glover made only one effort at 
self-support. For a brief season she taught school." 

My first husband. Major George W. Glover, resided in 
Charleston, S. C. While on a business trip to Wilming- 
ton, N. C, he was suddenly seized with yellow fever and 
died in about nine days. I was with him on this trip. 
He took with him the usual amount of money he would 
need on such an excursion. At his decease I was sur- 
rounded by friends, and their provisions in my behalf were 
most tender. The Gov-ernor of the State and his staff, 
with a long procession, followed the remains of my be- 
loved one to the cemetery. The Free Masons selected 
my escort, who took me to my father's home in Tilton, 
N. H. My salary for writing gave me ample support. 
I did open an infant school, but it was for the purpose of 
starting that educational system in New Hampshire. 

The rhyme attributed to me by McClure's Magazine is 



REPLY TO McCLURE'S MAGAZINE 313 

not mine, but is, I understand, a paraphrase of a silly 
song of years ago. Correctly quoted, it is as follows, so 
I have been told : — 

Go to Jane Glover, 
Tell her I love her; 
By the light of the moon 
I will go to her. 

The various stories told by McClure's Magazine about 
my father spreading the road in front of his house with 
tan-bark and straw, and about persons being hired to rock 
me, I am ignorant of. Nor do I remember any such stuff 
as Dr. Patterson driving into Franklin, N. H., with a 
couch or cradle for me in his wagon. I only know that 
my father and mother did everything they could think of 
to help me when I was ill. 

I was never "given to long and lonely wanderings, 
especially at night," as stated by McClure's Magazine. I 
was always accompanied by some responsible individual 
when I took an evening walk, but I seldom took one. I 
have always consistently declared that I was not a medium 
for spirits. I never was especially interested in the 
Shakers, never "dabbled in mesmerism," never was "an 
amateur clairvoyant," nor did "the superstitious coun- 
try folk frequently" seek my advice. I never went 
into a trance to describe scenes far away, as McClure's 
Magazine says. 

My oldest sister dearly loved me, but I wounded her 
pride when I adopted Christian Science, and to a Baker 
that was a sorry offence. I was obhged to be parted 
from my son, because after my father's second marriage 
my little boy was not welcome in my father's house. 



314 MISCELLANY 

McClure's Magazine calls Dr. Daniel Patterson, my 
second husband, "an itinerant dentist." It says that 
after my marriage we "lived for a short time at Tilton, 
then moved to Franklin. . . . During the following nine 
years the Pattersons led a roving existence. The doctor 
practised in several towns, from Tilton to North Groton 
and then to Rumney." When I was married to him. Dr. 
Daniel Patterson was located in Franklin, N. H. He had 
the degree D.D.S., was a popular man, and considered a 
rarely skilful dentist. He bought a place in North Groton, 
which he fancied, for a summer home. At that time he 
owned a house in Franklin, N. H. 

Although, as McClure's Magazine claims, the court 
record may state that my divorce from Dr. Patterson was 
granted on the ground of desertion, the cause neverthe- 
less was adultery. Individuals are here to-day who were 
present in court when the decision was given by the judge 
and who know the following facts: After the evidence 
had been submitted that a husband was about to have Dr. 
Patterson arrested for eloping with his wife, the court 
instructed the clerk to record the divorce in my favor. 
What prevented Dr. Patterson's arrest was a letter from 
me to this self -same husband, imploring him not to do it. 
W^hen this husband recovered his wife, he kept her a 
prisoner in her home, and I was also the means of recon- 
ciling the couple. A Christian Scientist has told me that 
with tears of gratitude the wife of this husband related 
these facts to her just as I have stated them. I lived 
with Dr. Patterson peaceably, and he was kind to me up 
to the time of the divorce. 

The following affidavit by R. D. Rounsevel of Littleton, 
N. H., proprietor of the White Mountain House, Fabyans, 



REPLY TO McCLURE'S MAGAZINE 315 

N. H., the original of which is in my possession, is of 
interest in this connection : — 

About the year 1874, Dr. Patterson, a dentist, boarded 
with me in Littleton, New Hampshire. During his stay, 
at different times, I had conversation with him about his 
wife, from whom he was separated. He spoke of her being 
a pure and Christian woman, and the cause of the separa- 
tion being wholly on his part; that if he had done as he 
ought, he might have had as pleasant and happy home as 
one could wish for. 

At that time I had no knowledge of who his wife was. 
Later on I learned that Mary Baker G. Eddy, the Dis- 
coverer and Founder of Christian Science, was the above- 
mentioned woman. .^i- i\ t^ t^ t^ 

(bigned) K. D. Kounsevel. 

Grafton S. S. Jan'y, 1902. Then personally appeared 
R. D. Rounsevel and made oath that the within statement 
by him signed is true. 

Before me, (Signed) H. M. Morse, 

Justice of the Peace. 

Who or what is the McClure "history," so called, pre- 
senting? Is it myself, the veritable Mrs. Eddy, whom 
the New York World declared dying of cancer, or is it 
her alleged double or dummy heretofore described? 

If indeed it be I, allow me to thank the enterprising 
historians for the testimony they have thereby given of the 
divine power of Christian Science, which they admit has 
snatched me from the cradle and the grave, and made 
me the beloved Leader of millions of the good men and 
women in our own and in other countries, — and all this 



316 MISCELLANY 

because the truth I have promulgated has separated the 
tares from the wheat, uniting in one body those who love 
Truth; because Truth divides between sect and Science 
and renews the heavenward impulse; because I still hear 
the harvest song of the Redeemer awakening the nations, 
causing man to love his enemies; because " blessed are ye, 
when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall 
say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake." 

[Christian Science Sentinel, January 19, 1907] 
A Card 

The article in the January number of The Arena maga- 
zine, entitled "The Recent Reckless and Irresponsible 
Attacks on Christian Science and its Founder, with a 
Survey of the Christian Science Movement," by the 
scholarly editor, Mr. B. O. Flower, is a grand defence of 
our Cause and its Leader. Such a dignified, eloquent 
appeal to the press in behalf of common justice and truth 
demands public attention. It defends human rights and 
the freedom of Christian sentiments, and tends to turn 
back the foaming torrents of ignorance, envy, and malice. 
I am pleased to find this "twentieth-century review of 
opinion " once more under Mr. Flower's able guardianship 
and manifesting its unbiased judgment by such sound 
appreciation of the rights of Christian Scientists and of 

all that is right. t./^ -r, -r^ 

^ Mary Baker Eddy. 



CHAPTER XVIII 

AUTHORSHIP OF SCIENCE AND HEALTH 

THE following statement, which was published in 
the Sentinel of December 1, 1906, exactly defin- 
ing her relations with the Rev. James Henry Wiggin of 
Boston, was made by Mrs. Eddy in refutation of allega- 
tions in the public press to the effect that Mr. Wiggin 
had a share in the authorship of ^^ Science and Health 
with Key to the Scriptures.'' 

Mrs. Eddy's Statement 

It is a great mistake to say that I employed the Rev. 
James Henry Wiggin to correct my diction. It was for 
no such purpose. I engaged Mr. Wiggin so as to avail 
myself of his criticisms of my statement of Christian 
Science, which criticisms would enable me to explain 
more clearly the points that might seem ambiguous to 
the reader. 

Mr. Calvin A. Frye copied my writings, and he will tell 
you that Mr. Wiggin left my diction quite out of the 
question, sometimes saying, "I wouldn't express it that 
way." He often dissented from what I had written, 
but I quieted him by quoting corroborative texts of 
Scripture. 

My diction, as used in explaining Christian Science, has 
been called original. The liberty that I have taken with 

317 



318 MISCELLANY 

capitalization, in order to express the "new tongue/* has 
well-nigh constituted a new style of language. In almost 
every case where Mr. Wiggin added words, I have erased 
them in my revisions. 

Mr. Wiggin was not my proofreader for my book 
"Miscellaneous Writings," and for only two of my books. 
I especially employed him on "Science and Health with 
Key to the Scriptures," because at that date some critics 
declared that my book was as ungrammatical as it was 
misleading. I availed myself of the name of the former 
proofreader for the University Press, Cambridge, to 
defend my grammatical construction, and confidently 
awaited the years to declare the moral and spiritual 
effect upon the age of "Science and Health with Key 
to the Scriptures." 

I invited Mr. Wiggin to visit one of my classes in the 
Massachusetts Metaphysical College, and he consented 
on condition that I should not ask him any questions. 
I agreed not to question him just so long as he refrained 
from questioning me. He held himself well in check 
until I began my attack on agnosticism. As I pro- 
ceeded, Mr. Wiggin manifested more and more agita- 
tion, until he could control himself no longer and, 
addressing me, burst out with: 

" How do you know that there ever was such a man as 
Christ Jesus?" 

He would have continued with a long argument, 
framed from his ample fund of historical knowledge, 
but I stopped him. 

"Now, Mr. Wiggin," I said, "you have broken our 
agreement. I do not find my authority for Christian 
Science in history, but in revelation. If there had never 



AUTHORSHIP OF SCIENCE AND HEALTH 319 

existed such a person as the GaHlean Prophet, it would 
make no difference to me. I should still know that 
God's spiritual ideal is the only real man in His image 
and likeness." 

My saying touched him, and I heard nothing further 
from him in the class, though afterwards he wrote a 
kind Httle pamphlet, signed "Phare Pleigh." 

I hold the late Mr. Wiggin in loving, grateful memory 
for his high-principled character and well-equipped 
scholarship. 

LETTERS FROM STUDENTS 

The following letters from students of Mrs. Eddy 
confirm her statement regarding the work which the 
Rev. Mr. Wiggin did for her, and also indicate what he 
himself thought of that work and of Mrs. Eddy: — 

My Dear Teacher : — I am conversant with some facts 
which perhaps have not come under the observation of 
many of your students, and considering the questions 
which have recently appeared, it may interest you to be 
advised that I have this information. On the tenth day of 
January, 1887, I entered your Primary class at Boston. 
A few days later, in conversation with you about the 
preparation of a theme, you suggested that I call on the 
late J. Henry Wiggin to assist me in analyzing and arrang- 
ing the topics, which I did about the twentieth of the 
above-named month. These dates are very well fixed in 
my memory, as I considered the time an important one 
in my experience, and do so still. I also recall very 
plainly the conversation with you in general as regards 
Mr. Wiggin. You told me that he had done some literary 



320 MISCELLANY 

work for you and that he was a fine Hterary student and 
a good proofreader. 

Upon calhng on Mr. Wiggin, I presented my matter for 
a theme to him, and he readily consented to assist me, 
which he did. He also seemed very much pleased to 
converse about you and your work, and I found that his 
statement of what he had done for you exactly agreed 
with what you had told me. He also expressed himself 
freely as to his high regard for you as a Christian lady, 
as an author, and as a student of ability. Mr. Wiggin 
spoke of "Science and Health with Key to the Scrip- 
tures'' as being a very unique book, and seemed quite 
proud of his having had something to do with some 
editions. He always spoke of you as the author of this 
book and the author of all your works. Mr. Wiggin 
did not claim to be a Christian Scientist, but was in 
a measure in sympathy with the movement, although 
he did not endorse all the statements in your textbook; 
but his tendency was friendly. 

I called on Mr. Wiggin several times while I was in your 
Primary class at the time above referred to, and several 
times subsequent thereto, and he always referred to you as 
the author of your works and spoke of your ability without 
any hesitation or restriction. Our conversations were at 
times somewhat long and went into matters of detail 
regarding your work, and I am of the opinion that he 
was proud of his acquaintance with you. 

I saw Mr. Wiggin several times after the class closed, 
and the last conversation I had with him was at the 
time of the dedication of the first Mother Church edifice 
in 1895. I met him in the vestibule of the church 
and he spoke in a very animated manner of your 



AUTHORSHIP OF SCIENCE AND HEALTH 321 

grand demonstration in building this church for your 
followers. He seemed very proud to think that he had 
been in a way connected with your work, but he always 
referred to you as the one who had accomplished this 
great work. 

My recollections of Mr. Wiggin place him as one 
of your devoted and faithful friends, one who knew 
who and what you are, also your position as regards 
your published works; and he always gave you that 
position without any restriction. I believe that Mr. 
Wiggin was an honest man and that he told the same 
story to every one with whom he had occasion to talk, 
so I cannot believe that he has ever said anything 
whatever of you and your relations to your published 
works differing from what he talked so freely in my 
presence. 

There is nothing in the circumstances which have 
arisen recently, and the manner in which the statements 
have been made, to change my opinion one iota in this 
respect. 

It will soon be twenty years since I first saw you and 
entered your class. During that time, from my connec- 
tion with the church, the Publishing Society, and my 
many conversations with you, my personal knowledge of 
the authorship of your works is conclusive to me in every 
detail, and I am very glad that I was among your early 
students and have had this experience and know of my 
own personal knowledge what has transpired during the 
past twenty years. 

I am also pleased to have had conversations with 
people who knew you years before I did, and who have 
told me of their knowledge of your work. 



322 MISCELLANY 

It is not long since I met a lady who lived in Lynn, 
and she told me she knew you when you were writing 
Science and Health, and that she had seen the manu- 
script. These are facts which cannot be controverted 
and they must stand. 

Your affectionate student, 

Edward P. Bates. 
Boston, Mass., November 21, 1906. 

My Beloved Teacher : — I have just read your state- 
ment correcting mistakes widely published about the 
Rev. James H. Wiggin's work for and attitude towards 
you; also Mr. Edw^ard P. Bates' letter to you on the 
same subject; which reminds me of a conversation I 
had with Mr. Wiggin on Thanksgiving Day twenty 
years ago, when a friend and I were the guests invited 
to dine with the Wiggin family. 

I had seen you the day before at the Metaphysical 
College and received your permission to enter the next 
Primary class (Jan. 10, 1887). During the evening my 
friend spoke of my journeying from the far South, and 
waiting months in Boston on the bare hope of a few 
days' instruction by Mrs. Eddy in Christian Science. 
She and Mrs. Wiggin seemed inclined to banter me on 
such enthusiasm, but Mr. Wiggin kindly helped me by 
advancing many good points in the Science, which were 
so clearly stated that I was surprised when he told me 
he was not a Christian Scientist. 

Seeing my great interest in the subject, he told me 
of his acquaintance with you and spoke earnestly and 
beautifully of you and your work. The exact words I 
do not recall, but the impression he left with me was 



AUTHORSHIP OP SCIENCE AND HEALTH 323 

entirely in accordance with what Mr. Bates has so well 
written in the above-mentioned letter. Before we left 
that evening, Mr. Wiggin gave me a pamphlet entitled 
"Christian Science and the Bible/' by "Phare Pleigh/' 
which he said he had written in answer to an unfair 
criticism of you and your book by some minister in the 
far West. I have his little book yet. How long must it 
be before the people find out that you have so identified 
yourself with the truth by loving it and living it that you 
are not going to lie about anything nor willingly leave 
any false impression. 

In loving gratitude for your living witness to Truth 

' Florence Whiteside. 

Chattanooga, Tenn., 
December 4, 1906. 

Beloved Teacher : — My heart has been too full to tell 
you in words all that your wonderful life and sacrifice 
means to me. Neither do I now feel at all equal to ex- 
pressing the crowding thoughts of gratitude and praise 
to God for giving this age such a Leader and teacher to 
reveal to us His way. Your crowning triumph over error 
and sin, which we have so recently witnessed, in blessing 
those who would destroy you if God did not hold you up 
by the right hand of His righteousness, should mean to 
your older students much that they may not have been 
able to appreciate in times past. 

I wonder if you will remember that Mr. Snider and 
myself boarded in the home of the late Rev. J. Henry 
Wiggin during the time of our studying in the second 
class with you — the Normal class in the fall of 1887? 
We were at that time some eight days in Mr. and Mrs. 



324 MISCELLANY 

Wiggin's home. He often spoke his thoughts freely 
about you and your work, especially your book Science 
and Health. Mr. Wiggin had somewhat of a thought 
of contempt for the unlearned, and he scorned the sug- 
gestion that Mr. Quimby had given you any idea for 
your book, as he said you and your ideas were too 
much alike for the book to have come from any one but 
yourself. He often said you were so original and so 
very decided that no one could be of much service to 
you, and he often hinted that he thought he could give 
a clearer nomenclature for Science and Health. I re- 
member telling you of this, and you explained how long 
you had waited on the Lord to have those very terms 
revealed to you. 

I am very sure that neither Mr. Wiggin nor his esti- 
mable wife had any other thought but that you were 
the author of your book, and were he here to-day he 
would be too honorable to allow the thought to go out 
that he had helped you write it. He certainly never 
gave us the impression that he thought you needed 
help, for we always thought that Mr. Wiggin regarded 
you as quite his literary equal, and was gratified and 
pleased in numbering you among his literary friends. 
Everything he said conveyed this impression to us — 
that he regarded you as entirely unique and original. 
He told us laughingly why he accepted your invitation 
to sit through your class. He said he wanted to see if 
there was one woman under the sun who could keep to 
her text. When we asked him if he found you could do 
so, he replied "Yes," and said that no man could have 
done so any better. 

Both Mr. and Mrs. Wiggin frequently mentioned 



AUTHORSHIP OF SCIENCE AND HEALTH 325 

many kindnesses you had shown them, and spoke of 
one especial day when amidst all your duties you per- 
sonally called to inquire of his welfare (he had been 
ill) and to leave luscious hothouse fruit. One thing 
more, that I think will amuse you: Mr. Wiggin was 
very much troubled that you had bought your house 
on Commonwealth Avenue, as he was very sure Back 
Bay property would never be worth what you then 
paid for it. He regarded the old part of Boston in 
which he lived as having a greater future than the new 
Back Bay. 

Years ago I offered my services to you in any capacity 
in which I could serve you, and my desire has never 
changed. Command me at any time, in any way, beloved 
Leader. 

With increasing love and gratitude, ever faithfully your 

student, /^ tt o 

Carrie Harvey Snider. 

New York, N. Y., 

December 7, 1906. 



CHAPTER XIX 

[The Christian Science Journal] 

A MEMORABLE COINCIDENCE AND HISTORICAL 
FACTS 

WE are glad to publish the following interesting 
letter and enclosures received from our Leader. 
That legislatures and courts are thus declaring the liberties 
of Christian Scientists is most gratifying to our people; not 
because a favor has been extended, but because their 
inherent rights are recognized in an official and authori- 
tative manner. It is especially gratifying to them that 
the declaration of this recognition should be coincident 
in the Southern and Northern States in which Mrs. Eddy 
has made her home. 

Mrs. Eddy's Letter 

Dear Editor : — I send for publication in our periodicals 
the following deeply interesting letter from Elizabeth Earl 
Jones of Asheville, N. C, — the State w^here my husband, 
Major George W. Glover, passed on and up, the State 
that so signally honored his memory, where with wet eyes 
the Free Masons laid on his bier the emblems of a master 
Mason, and in long procession with tender dirge bore his 
remains to their last resting-place. Deeply grateful, I 
recognize the divine hand in turning the hearts of the noble 

326 



HISTORICAL FACTS 327 

Southrons of North Carohna legally to protect the practice 
of Christian Science in that State. 

Is it not a memorabLe coincidence that, in the Court of 
New Hampshire, my native State, and in the Legislature 
of North Carohna, they have the same year, in 1903, made 
it legal to practise Christian Science in these States? 

Mary Baker Eddy. 
Pleasant View, Concoed, N. H., 
October 16, 1903. 

MISS ELIZABETH EARL JONES' LETTER 

Beloved Leader : — I know the enclosed article will make 
your heart glad, as it has made glad the hearts of all the 
Christian Scientists in North Carolina. This is the result 
of the work done at last winter's term of our Legislature, 
when a medical bill was proposed calculated to limit or 
stop the practice of Christian Science in our State. An 
amendment was obtained by Miss Mary Hatch Harrison 
and a few other Scientists who stayed on the field until the 
last. After the amendment had been passed, an old law, 
or rather a section of an act in the Legislature regulating 
taxes, was changed as follows, because the representa- 
tive men of our dear State did not v/ish to be "discour- 
teous to the Christian Scientists." The section formerly 
read, "pretended healers," but was changed to read as 
follows: "All other professionals who practise the art of 
healing," etc. 

We thank our heavenly Father for this dignified 
legal protection and recognition, and look forward to 
the day, not far distant, when the laws of every State 
will dignify the ministry of Christ as taught and prac- 
tised in Christian Science, and as lived by our dear, 



328 MISCELLANY 

dear Leader, even as God has dignified, blessed, and 
prospered it, and her. 

With devoted love, 

Elizabeth Earl Jones. 

105 Bailey St., Asheville, N. C, 
October 11, 1903. 

The following article, copied from the Raleigh (N. C.) 
News and Observer, is the one referred to in Miss Jones' 
letter : — 

The Christian Science people, greatly pleased at the 
law affecting them passed by the last Legislature, are 
apt also to be pleased with the fact that the law recog- 
nizes them as healers, and that it gives them a license 
to heal. This license of five dollars annually, required 
of physicians, has been required of them, and how this 
came about in Kinston is told in the Kinston Free Press 
as follows : — 

Sheriff Wooten issued licenses yesterday to two 
Christian Science healers in this city. This is probably 
the first to be issued to the healers of this sect in the 
State. 

Upon the request of a prominent healer of the church, 
the section of the machinery act of the Legislature cover- 
ing it was shown, whereupon application for license was 
made and obtained. 

The section, after enumerating the different professions 
for which a license must be obtained to carry them on in 
this State, further says, " and all other professionals who 
practise the art of healing for pay, shall pay a license fee 
of five dollars." 



HISTORICAL FACTS 329 

This was construed to include the healers of the Chris- 
tian Science church, and license was accordingly taken 
out. 

The idea prevails that the last General Assembly of 
North Carolina relieved the healers of this sect from paying 
this fee, but this is not so. The board only excused them 
from a medical examination before a board of medical 
examiners. 

Mrs. Eddy's reference to the death of her husband, 
Major George W. Glover, gives especial interest to the 
following letter from Newbern, N. C, which appeared 
in the Wilmington (N. C.) Dispatch, October 24, 1903. 
Mrs. Eddy has in her possession photographed copies of 
the notice of her husband's death and of her brother's 
letter, taken from the Wilmington (N. C.) Chronicle as 
they appear in that paper in the issues of July 3 and 
August 21, 1844, respectively. The photographs are ver- 
ified by the certificate of a notary public and were pre- 
sented to Mrs. Eddy by Miss Harrison. 



To the Editor : — At no better time than now, when the 
whole country is recognizing the steady progress of Chris- 
tian Science and admitting its interest in the movement, 
as shown by the fair attitude of the press everywhere, 
could we ask you to give your readers the following com- 
munication. It will put before them some interesting 
facts concerning Mrs. Mary Baker Eddy, and some in- 
cidents of her life in North and South Carolina which 
might not have been known but for a criticism of this 



330 MISCELLANY 

good woman which was pubHshed in your paper in 
August, 190L 

I presume we should not be surprised that a noteworthy 
follower of our Lord should be maligned, since the great 
Master himself was scandalized, and he prophesied that 
his followers would be so treated. The calumniator who 
informed you in this instance locates INIrs. Eddy in Wil- 
mington in 1843, thus contradicting his own statement, 
since Mrs. Eddy was not then a resident of Wilmington. 
A local Christian Scientist of your city, whose womanhood 
and Christianity are appreciated by all, assisted by a 
Mason of good standing there and a Christian Scientist of 
Charleston, S. C, carefully investigated the points con- 
cerning Major Glover's history which are questioned by 
this critic, and has found Mrs. Eddy's statements, rela- 
ting to her husband (who she states was of Charleston, 
S. C, not of Wilmington, but who died there while on 
business in 1844, not in 1843, as claimed in your issue) are 
sustained by Masonic records in each place as well as 
by Wilmington newspapers of that year. In "Retro- 
spection and Introspection" (p. 19) Mrs. Eddy says of 
this circumstance : — 

" My husband was a Free Mason, being a member in St. 
Andrew's Lodge, No. 10, and of Union Chapter, No. 3, of 
Royal Arch Masons. He was highly esteemed and sin- 
cerely lamented by a large circle of friends and acquaint- 
ances, whose kindness and sympathy helped to support me 
in this terrible bereavement. A month later I returned to 
New Hampshire, where, at the end of four months, my 
babe was born. Colonel Glover's tender devotion to his 
young bride was remarked by all observers. With his 
parting breath he gave pathetic directions to his brother 



HISTORICAL FACTS 331 

Masons about accompanying her on her sad journey to 
the North. Here it is but justice to record, they per- 
formed their obHgations most faithfully/' 

Such watchful solicitude as Mrs. Eddy received at the 
hands of Wilmington's best citizens, among whom she 
remembers the Rev. Mr. Reperton, a Baptist clergyman, 
and the Governor of the State, who accompanied her to 
the train on her departure, indicates her irreproachable 
standing in your city at that time. 

The following letter of thanks, copied from the Wil- 
mington Chronicle of August 21, 1844, testifies to the love 
and respect entertained for Mrs. Eddy by Wilmington's 
best men, whose Southern chivalry would have scorned 
to extend such unrestrained hospitality to an unworthy 
woman as quickly as it would have published the assail- 
ant of a good woman: — 

A CARD 

Through the columns of your paper, will you permit 
me, in behalf of the relatives and friends of the late 
Major George W. Glover of Wilmington and his be- 
reaved lady, to return our thanks and express the feeling 
of gratitude we owe and cherish towards those friends of 
the deceased who so kindly attended him during his last 
sickness, and who still extended their care and sympathy 
to the lone, feeble, and bereaved widow after his decease. 
Much has often been said of the high feeling of honor 
and the noble generosity of heart which characterized the 
people of the South, yet when we listen to Mrs. Glover 
(my sister) whilst recounting the kind attention paid to 
the deceased during his late illness, the sympathy ex- 
tended to her after his death, and the assistance volun- 



332 MISCELLANY 

teered to restore her to her friends at a distance of more 
than a thousand miles, the power of language would be 
but beggared by an attempt at expressing the feelings of 
a swelling bosom. The silent gush of grateful tears alone 
can tell the emotions of the thankful heart, — words are 
indeed but a meagre tribute for so noble an effort in be- 
half of the unfortunate, yet it is all we can award : will our 
friends at Wilmington accept it as a tribute of grateful 
hearts? Many thanks are due Mr. Cooke, who engaged 
to accompany her only to New York, but did not desert 
her or remit his kind attention until he saw her in the 
fond embrace of her friends. 

Your friend and obedient servant, 
(Signed) George S. Baker. 

Sanboknton Bkidge, N. H., 

August 12, 1844. 

The paper containing this card is now in the Young 
Men's Christian Association at Wilmington. 

The facts regarding Major Glover's membership in 
St. Andrew's Lodge, No. 10, were brought to light in a 
most interesting way. A Christian Scientist in Charles- 
ton was requested to look up the records of this lodge, 
as we had full confidence that it would corroborate Mrs. 
Eddy's claims. After frequent searchings and much in- 
terviewing with Masonic authorities, it was learned that 
the lodge was no longer in existence, and that during the 
Civil War many Masonic records were transferred to 
Columbia, where they were burned; but on repeated 
search a roll of papers recording the death of George 
Washington Glover in 1844 and giving best praises to 
his honorable record and Christian character was found; 



HISTORICAL FACTS 333 

and said record, with the seal of the Grand Secretary, 
is now in the possession of the chairman of the Christian 
Science pubUcation committee. 

In the records of St. John's Lodge, Wilmington, as 
found by one of your own citizens, a Mason, it is shown 
that on the twenty-eighth day of June, 1844, a special 
meeting was convened for the purpose of paying the last 
tribute of respect to Brother George W. Glover, who 
died on the night of the twenty-seventh. The minutes 
record this further proceeding: — 

"A procession was formed, which moved to the resi- 
dence of the deceased, and from thence to the Episcopal 
burying-ground, where the body was interred with the 
usual ceremonies. The procession then returned to the 
lodge, which was closed in due form." 

It has never been claimed by Mrs. Eddy nor by any 
Christian Scientists that Major Glover's remains were 
carried North. 

The Wilmington Chronicle of July 3, 1844, records that 
this good man, then known as Major George W. Glover, 
died on Thursday night, the twenty-seventh of June. The 
Chronicle states : " His end was calm and peaceful, and to 
those friends who attended him during his illness he gave 
the repeated assurance of his willingness to die, and of his 
full reliance for salvation on the merits of a crucified Re- 
deemer. His remains were interred with Masonic honors. 
He has left an amiable wife, to whom he had been united 
but the brief space of six months, to lament this 
irreparable loss." 

From the Chronicle, dated September 25, 1844, we copy 
the following: "We are assured that reports of unusual 
sickness in Wilmington are in circulation." This periodi- 



334 MISCELLANY 

cal then forthwith strives to give the impression that the 
rumor is not true. It is reasonable to infer from news- 
paper reports of that date that some insidious disease 
was raging at that time. 

The allegation that copies of Mrs. Eddy's book, "Retro- 
spection and Introspection/' are few, and that efforts are 
being made to buy them up because she has contradicted 
herself, is without foundation. They are advertised in 
every weekly issue of the Christian Science Sentinel, and 
still contain the original account of her husband's demise 
at Wilmington. 

May it not be, since this critic places certain circum- 
stances in 1843, which records show really existed in 1844, 
that the woman whom he had in mind is some other one? 

We can state Mrs. Eddy's teaching on the unreality of 
evil in no better terms than to quote her own words. 
Nothing could be further from her meaning than that evil 
could be indulged in while being called unreal. She 
declares in her Message to The Mother Church [1901]: 
**To assume there is no reality in sin, and yet commit 
sin, is sin itself, that clings fast to iniquity. The Pub- 
lican's wail won his humble desire, while the Pharisee's 
self -righteousness crucified Jesus." 

Mary Hatch Harrison. 



Of further interest in this matter is the following ex- 
tract from an editorial obituary which appeared in 1845 in 
the Freemason's Monthly Magazine, published by the 
late Charles W. Moore, Grand Secretary of the Grand 
Lodge of Massachusetts: — 



HISTORICAL FACTS 335 

Died at Wilmington, N. C, on the 27th June last, 
Major George W. Glover, formerly of Concord, N. H. 

Brother Glover resided in Charleston, S. C, and was 
made a Mason in " St. Andrew's Lodge, No. 10." He was 
soon exalted to the degree of a Royal Arch Mason in 
"Union Chapter, No. 3," and retained his membership 
in both till his decease. He was devotedly attached 
to Masonry, faithful as a member and officer of the 
Lodge and Chapter, and beloved by his brothers and 
companions, who mourn his early death. 

Additional facts regarding Major Glover, his illness and 
death, are that he was for a number of years a resident of 
Charleston, S. C, where he erected a fine dwelling-house, 
the drawings and specifications of which were kept by his 
widow for many years after his death. While at Wilming- 
ton, N. C, in June, 1844, Mr. Glover was attacked with 
yellow fever of the worst type, and at the end of nine days 
he passed away. This was the second case of the dread 
disease in that city, and in the hope of allaying the excite- 
ment which was fast arising, the authorities gave the cause 
of death as bilious fever, but they refused permission to 
take the remains to Charleston. 

On the third day of her husband's illness, Mrs. Glover 
(now Mrs. Eddy) sent for the distinguished physician who 
attended cases of this terrible disease as an expert (Dr. 
McRee we think it was), and was told by him that he could 
not conceal the fact that the case was one of yellow fever 
in its worst form, and nothing could save the life of 
her husband. In these nine days and nights of agony 
the young wife prayed incessantly for her husband's 
recovery, and was told by the expert physician that 



336 MISCELLANY 

but for her prayers the patient would have died on 
the seventh day. 

The disease spread so rapidly that Mrs. Glover (Mrs. 
Eddy) was afraid to have her brother, George S. Baker, 
come to her after her husband's death, to take her back to 
the North. Although he desired to go to her assistance, 
she declined on this ground, and entrusted herself to the 
care of her husband's Masonic brethren, who faithfully 
performed their obligation to her. She makes grateful 
acknowledgment of this in her book, "Retrospection and 
Introspection." In this book (p. 20) she also states, 
"After returning to the paternal roof I lost all my hus- 
band's property, except what money I had brought 
with me; and remained with my parents until after 
my mother's decease." Mr. Glover had made no will 
previous to his last illness, and then the seizure of dis- 
ease was so sudden and so violent that he was unable 
to make a will. 

These letters and extracts are of absorbing interest to 
Christian Scientists as amplification of the facts given by 
Mrs. Eddy in "Retrospection and Introspection." 



CHAPTER XX 
GENERAL MISCELLANY 

[Boston Herald, Sunday, May 15, 1898] 
The United States to Great Britain 



H 



AIL, brother ! fling thy banner 
To the billows and the breeze; 
We proffer thee warm welcome 

With our hand, though not our knees. 



Lord of the main and manor! 

Thy palm, in ancient day, 
Didst rock the country's cradle 

That wakes thy laureate's lay. 

The hoar fight is forgotten; 

Our eagle, like the dove, 
Returns to bless a bridal 

Betokened from above. 

List, brother! angels whisper 
To Judah's sceptred race, — . 

" Thou of the self-same spirit, 
Allied by nations' grace, 

"Wouldst cheer the hosts of heaven; 

For Anglo-Israel, lo! 
Is marching under orders; 

His hand averts the blow." 
337 



338 MISCELLANY 

Brave Britain, blest America! 

Unite your battle-plan; 
Victorious, all who live it, — 

The love for God and man. 



To THE Public 

The following views of the Rev. Mary Baker Eddy 
upon the subject of the Trinity, are known to us to be 
those uniformly held and expressed by her. A reference 
to her writings will fully corroborate this statement. — 
Editor Sentinel. 

The contents of the last lecture of our dear brother, 
on the subject "The Unknown God Made Known,'' 
were unknown to me till after the lecture was delivered 
in Boston, April 5. 

The members of the Board of Lectureship are not 
allowed to consult me relative to their subjects or the 
handling thereof, owing to my busy life, and they seek a 
higher source for wisdom and guidance. The talented 
author of this lecture has a heart full of love towards 
God and man. For once he may have overlooked the 
construction that people unfamiliar with his broad 
views and loving nature might put on his comparisons 
and ready humor. But all Christian Scientists deeply 
recognize the oneness of Jesus — that he stands alone 
in word and deed, the visible discoverer, founder, de- 
monstrator, and great Teacher of Christianity, whose 
sandals none may unloose. 

The Board of Lectureship is absolutely inclined to 
be, and is instructed to be, charitable towards all, and 



FAST DAY IN NEW HAMPSHIRE, 1899 339 

hating none. The purpose of its members is to sub- 
serve the interest of mankind, and to cement the bonds 
of Christian brotherhood, whose every hnk leads up- 
ward in the chain of being. The cardinal points of 
Christian Science cannot be lost sight of, namely — one 
God, supreme, infinite, and one Christ Jesus. 

The Board of Lectureship is specially requested to be 
wise in discoursing on the great subject of Christian 
Science. 

Mary Baker Eddy. 



Fast Day in New Hampshire, 1899 

Along the lines of progressive Christendom, New 
Hampshire's advancement is marked. Already Massa- 
chusetts has exchanged Fast Day, and all that it for- 
merly signified, for Patriots' Day, and the observance 
of the holiday illustrates the joy, grace, and glory of lib- 
erty. We read in Holy Writ that the disciples of St. 
John the Baptist said to the great Master, " Why do we 
and the Pharisees fast oft, but thy disciples fast not?" 
And he answered them in substance: My disciples 
rejoice in their present Christianity and have no cause 
to mourn; only those who have not the Christ, Truth, 
within them should wear sackcloth. 

Jesus said to his disciples, " This kind goeth not out but 
by prayer and fasting," but he did not appoint a fast. 
Merely to abstain from eating was not sufficient to meet 
his demand. The animus of his saying was: Silence 
appetites, passion, and all that wars against Spirit and 
spiritual power. The fact that he healed the sick man 
without the observance of a material fast confirms this 



340 MISCELLANY 

conclusion. Jesus attended feasts, but we have no record 
of his observing appointed fasts. 

St. Paul's days for prayer were every day and every 
hour. He said, "Pray without ceasing." He classed 
the usage of special days and seasons for religious ob- 
servances and precedents as belonging not to the Chris- 
tian era, but to traditions, old-wives' fables, and endless 
genealogies. 

The enlightenment, the erudition, the progress of relig- 
ion and medicine in New Hampshire, are in excess of 
other States, as witness her schools, her churches, and 
her frown on class legislation. In many of the States 
in our Union a simple board of health, clad in a little 
brief authority, has arrogated to itself the prerogative 
of making laws for the State on the practice of medicine ! 
But this attempt is shorn of some of its shamelessness by 
the courts immediately annulling such bills and pluck- 
ing their plumes through constitutional interpretations. 
Not the tradition of the elders, nor a paltering, timid, 
or dastardly policy, is pursued by the leaders of our rock- 
ribbed State. 

That the Governor of New Hampshire has suggested to 
his constituents to recur to a religious observance which 
virtually belongs to the past, should tend to enhance their 
confidence in his intention to rule righteously the affairs 
of state. However, Jesus' example in this, as in all else, 
suffices for the Christian era. The dark days of our fore- 
fathers and their implorations for peace and plenty have 
passed, and are succeeded by our time of abundance, even 
the full beneficence of the laws of the universe which 
man's diligence has utilized. Institutions of learning and 
progressive religion light their fires in every home. 



MRS. EDDY TALKS 341 

I have one innate joy, and love to breathe it to the 
breeze as God's courtesy. A native of New Hampshire, 
a child of the Republic, a Daughter of the Revolution, I 
thank God that He has emblazoned on the escutcheon 
of this State, engraven on her granite rocks, and lifted 
to her giant hills the ensign of religious liberty — " Free- 
dom to worship God.'' 

Spring Greeting 

Beloved brethren all over our land and in every land, 
accept your Leader's Spring greeting, while 

The bird of hope is singing 
A lightsome lay, a cooing call, 
And in her heart is beating 
A love for all — 
"'Tis peace not power I seek, 
'Tis meet that man be meek." 



[New York Herald, May 1, 1901] 
[Extract] 

Mrs. Eddy Talks 

Christian Science has been so much to the fore of late 
that unusual public interest centres in the personality 
of Mrs. Mary Baker Eddy, the Founder of the cult. 
The granting of interviews is not usual, hence it was 
a special favor that Mrs. Eddy received the Herald 
correspondent. 

It had been raining all day and was damp without, so 
the change from the misty air outside to the pleasant 



342 MISCELLANY 

warmth within the ample, richly fm-nished house was 
agreeable. Seated in the large parlor, I became aware 
of a white-haired lady slowly descending the stairs. 
She entered with a gracious smile, walking uprightly and 
with light step, and after a kindly greeting took a seat 
on a sofa. It was Mrs. Eddy. There was no mis- 
taking that. Older in years, white-haired and frailer, 
but Mrs. Eddy herself. The likeness to the portraits 
of twenty years ago, so often seen in reproductions, was 
unmistakable. There is no mistaking certain lines that 
depend upon the osseous structure; there is no mistaking 
the eyes — those eyes the shade of which is so hard to 
catch, whether blue-gray or grayish brown, and which 
are always bright. And when I say frail, let it not be 
understood that I mean weak, for weak she was not. 
When we were snugly seated in the other and smaller 
parlor across the hall, which serves as a library, Mrs. 
Eddy sat back to be questioned. 

"The continuity of The Church of Christ, Scientist," 
she said, in her clear voice, "is assured. It is growing 
wonderfully. It will embrace all the churches, one by 
one, because in it alone is the simplicity of the oneness 
of God; the oneness of Christ and the perfecting of man 
stated scientifically." 

"How will it be governed after all now concerned in 
its government shall have passed on?" 

" It will evolve scientifically. Its essence is evangelical. 
Its government will develop as it progresses." 

"Will there be a hierarchy, or will it be directed by a 
single earthly ruler?" 

"In time its present rules of service and present ruler- 
ship will advance nearer perfection." 



MRS. EDDY TALKS 343 

It was plain that the answers to questions would be 
in Mrs. Eddy's own spirit. She has a rapt way of talk- 
ing, looking large-eyed into space, and works around a 
question in her own way, reaching an answer often 
unexpectedly after a prolonged exordium. She explained : 
"No present change is contemplated in the rulership. 
You would ask, perhaps, whether my successor will be a 
woman or a man. I can answer that. It will be a man." 

"Can you name the man?" 

"I cannot answer that now." 

Here, then, was the definite statement that Mrs. Eddy's 
immediate successor would, like herself, be the ruler. 



NOT A POPE OE A CHRIST 

"I have been called a pope, but surely I have sought 
no such distinction. I have simply taught as I learned 
while healing the sick. It was in 1866 that the light of 
the Science came first to me. In 1875 I wrote my book. 
It brought down a shower of abuse upon my head, but 
it won converts from the first. I followed it up, teaching 
and organizing, and trust in me grew. I was the mother, 
but of course the term pope is used figuratively. 

"A position of authority," she went on, "became 
necessary. Rules were necessary, and I made a code of 
by-laws, but each one was the fruit of experience and the 
result of prayer. Entrusting their enforcement to others, 
I found at one time that they had five churches under 
discipline. I intervened. Dissensions are dangerous in 
an infant church. I wrote to each church in tenderness, 
in exhortation, and in rebuke, and so brought all back to 
union and love again. If that is to be a pope, then you 



344 MISCELLANY 

can judge for yourself. I have even been spoken of as a 
Christ, but to my understanding of Christ that is impos- 
sible. If we say that the sun stands for God, then all his 
rays collectively stand for Christ, and each separate ray 
for men and women. God the Father is greater than 
Christ, but Christ is ^one with the Father,' and so the 
mystery is scientifically explained. There can be but 
one Christ." 

"And the soul of man?" 

"It is not the spirit of God, inhabiting clay and then 
withdrawn from it, but God preserving individuality and 
personality to the end. I hold it absurd to say that when 
a man dies, the man will be at once better than he was 
before death. How can it be? The individuality of him 
must make gradual approaches to Soul's perfection." 

"Do you reject utterly the bacteria theory of the 
propagation of disease?" 

"Oh," with a prolonged inflection, "entirely. If I 
harbored that idea about a disease, I should think myself 
in danger of catching it." 



ABOUT INFECTIOUS DISEASES 

"Then as to the laws — the health laws of the States 
on the question of infectious and contagious diseases. 
How does Christian Science stand as to them?" 

"I say, 'Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's.' 
We cannot force perfection on the world. Were vaccina- 
tion of any avail, I should tremble for mankind; but, 
knowing it is not, and that the fear of catching small- 
pox is more dangerous than any material infection, I 
say: Where vaccination is compulsory, let your children 



MRS. EDDY TALKS 345 

be vaccinated, and see that your mind is in such a state 
that by your prayers vaccination will do the children no 
harm. So long as Christian Scientists obey the laws, I 
do not suppose their mental reservations will be thought 
to matter much. But every thought tells, and Christian 
Science will overthrow false knowledge in the end." 

"What is your attitude to science in general? Do you 
oppose it?" 

"Not," with a smile, "if it is really science." 

"Well, electricity, engineering, the telephone, the steam 
engine — are these too material for Christian Science?" 

" No ; only false science — healing by drugs. I was a 
sickly child. I was dosed with drugs until they had no 
effect on me. The doctors said I would live if the drugs 
could be made to act on me. Then homoeopathy came 
like blessed relief to me, but I found that when I pre- 
scribed pellets without any medication they acted just 
the same and healed the sick. How could I believe in 
a science of drugs?" 

"But surgery?" 

"The work done by the surgeon is the last healing that 
will be vouchsafed to us, or rather attained by us, as we 
near a state of spiritual perfection. At present I am 
conservative about advice on surgical cases." 

"But the pursuit of modern material inventions?" 

"Oh, we cannot oppose them. They all tend to newer, 
finer, more etherealized ways of living. They seek the finer 
essences. They light the way to the Church of Christ. 
We use them, we make them our figures of speech. 
They are preparing the way for us." 

We talked on many subjects, some only of which are 
here touched upon, and her views, strictly and always 



346 MISCELLANY 

from the standpoint of Christian Science, were continu- 
ally surprising. She talks as one who has lived with her 
subject for a lifetime, — an ordinary lifetime; and so 
far from being puzzled by any question, welcomes it as 
another opportunity for presenting another view of her 
religion. 

Those who have been anticipating nature and declaring 
Mrs. Eddy non-existent may learn authoritatively from 
the Herald that she is in the flesh and in health. Soon 
after I reached Concord on my return from Pleasant 
View, Mrs. Eddy's carriage drove into town and made 
several turns about the court-house before returning. 
She was inside, and as she passed me the same ex- 
pression of looking forward, thinking, thinking, was on 
her face. 

Concord, N. H., 
Tuesday, April 30, 190L 

Mrs. Eddy's Successor 

In a recent interview which appeared in the columns 
of the New York Herald, the Rev. Mary Baker Eddy, 
Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science, stated that 
her successor would be a man. Various conjectures 
having arisen as to whether she had in mind any particu- 
lar person when the statement was made, Mrs. Eddy 
gave the following to the Associated Press, May 16, 
1901: — 

"I did say that a man would be my future successor. 
By this I did not mean any man to-day on earth. 

"Science and Health makes it plain to all Christian 
Scientists that the manhood and womanhood of God 



FUNDAMENTAL CHRISTIAN SCIENCE 347 

have already been revealed in a degree through Christ 
Jesus and Christian Science, His two witnesses. What 
remains to lead on the centuries and reveal my successor, 
is man in the image and likeness of the Father-Mother 
God, man the generic term for mankind." 

Gift of a Loving-cup 

The Executive Members of The Mother Church of 
Christ, Scientist, will please accept my heartfelt acknowl- 
edgment of their beautiful gift to me, a loving-cup, pre- 
sented July 16, 1903. The exquisite design of boughs 
encircling this cup, illustrated by Keats' touching couplet, 

Ah happy, happy boughs, that cannot shed 
Your leaves, nor ever bid the Spring adieu! 

would almost suggest that nature had reproduced her 
primal presence, bough, bird, and song, to salute me. 
The twelve beautiful pearls that crown this cup call to 
mind the number of our great Master's first disciples, and 
the parable of the priceless pearl which purchases our 
field of labor in exchange for all else. 

I shall treasure my loving-cup with all its sweet 
associations. 

[Special contribution to " Bohemia." A symposium.] 

Fundamental Christian Science 

Most thinkers concede that Science is the law of God; 
that matter is not a law-maker; that man is not the 
author of Science, and that a phenomenon is chimerical, 
unless it be the manifestation of a fixed Principle whose 
noumenon is God and whose phenomenon is Science. 



348 MISCELLANY 

My discovery that mankind is absolutely healed of so- 
called disease and injuries by other than drugs, surgery, 
hygiene, electricity, magnetism, or will-power, induced a 
deep research, which proved conclusively that all effect 
must be the offspring of a universal cause. I sought this 
cause, not within but ah extra, and I found it was God 
made manifest in the flesh, and understood through divine 
Science. Then I was healed, and the greatest of all ques- 
tions was solved sufficiently to give a reason for the hope 
that was within me. 

The religious departure from divine Science sprang from 
the belief that the man Jesus, rather than his divine Prin- 
ciple, God, saves man, and that materia medica heals him. 
The writer's departure from such a religion was based upon 
her discovery that neither man nor materia medica, but 
God, heals and saves mankind. 

Here, however, was no stopping-place, since Science 
demanded a rational proof that the divine Mind heals 
the sick and saves the sinner. God unfolded the way, the 
demonstration thereof was made, and the certainty of its 
value to the race firmly established. I had found unmis- 
takably an actual, unfailing causation, enshrined in the 
divine Principle and in the laws of man and the universe, 
which, never producing an opposite effect, demonstrated 
Christianity and proved itself Science, for it healed the 
sick and reformed the sinner on a demonstrable Principle 
and given rule. The human demonstrator of this Science 
may mistake, but the Science remains the law of God — 
infallible, eternal. Divine Life, Truth, Love is the basic 
Principle of all Science, it solves the problem of being; 
and nothing that worketh ill can enter into the solution 
of God's problems. 



FUNDAMENTAL CHRISTIAN SCIENCE 349 

God is Mind, and divine Mind was first chronologi- 
cally, is first potentially, and is the healer to whom all 
things are possible. A scientific state of health is a 
consciousness of health, holiness, immortality — a con- 
sciousness gained through Christ, Truth; while disease 
is a mental state or error that Truth destroys. It is self- 
evident that matter, or the body, cannot cause disease, 
since disease is in a sense susceptible of both ease and 
dis-ease, and matter is not sensible. Kant, Locke, Berke- 
ley, Tyndall, and Spencer afford little aid in understand- 
ing divine metaphysics or its therapeutics. Christian 
Science is a divine largess, a gift of God — understood 
by and divinely natural to him who sits at the feet of 
Jesus clothed in truth, who is putting off the hypothesis 
of matter because he is conscious of the allness of God — 
"looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith." 
Thus the great Way-shower, invested with glory, is under- 
stood, and his words and works illustrate "the way, the 
truth, and the life." 

Divine modes or manifestations are natural, beyond 
the so-called natural sciences and human philosophy, 
because they are spiritual, and coexist with the God of 
nature in absolute Science. The laws of God, or divine 
Mind, obtain not in material phenomena, or phenomenal 
evil, which is lawless and traceable to mortal mind — 
human will divorced from Science. 

Inductive or deductive reasoning is correct only as it 
is spiritual, induced by love and deduced from God, 
Spirit; only as it makes manifest the infinite nature, 
including all law and supplying all the needs of man. 
Wholly hypothetical, inductive reasoning reckons creation 
as its own creator, seeks cause in effect, and from atom 



350 MISCELLANY 

and dust draws its conclusions of Deity and man, law and 
gospel, leaving science at the beck of material phenomena, 
or leaving it out of the question. To begin with the 
divine noumenon. Mind, and to end with the phenom- 
enon, matter, is minus divine logic and plus human hy- 
pothesis, with its effects, sin, disease, and death. It was 
in this dilemma that revelation, uplifting human reason, 
came to the writer's rescue, when calmly and rationally, 
though faintly, she spiritually discerned the divine idea 
of the cosmos and Science of man. 

Whither? 

Father, did'st not Thou the dark wave treading 

Lift from despair the struggler with the sea? 

And heed'st Thou not the scalding tear man's shedding, 

And know'st Thou not the pathway glad and free? 

This weight of anguish which they blindly bind 
On earth, this bitter searing to the core of love; 
This crushing out of health and peace, mankind — 
Thou all. Thou infinite — dost doom above. 

Oft mortal sense is darkened unto death 
(The Stygian shadow of a world of glee) ; 
The old foundations of an early faith 
Sunk from beneath man, whither shall he flee? 

To Love divine, whose kindling mighty rays 
Brighten the horoscope of crumbling creeds, 
Dawn Truth delightful, crowned with endless days. 
And Science ripe in prayer, in word, and deeds. 



TAKE NOTICE 351 

A Letter from our Leader 

With our Leader's kind permission, the Sentinel is 
privileged to pubhsh her letter of recent date, addressed 
to Mr. John C. Higdon of St. Louis, Mo. This letter 
is especially interesting on account of its beautiful tribute 
to Free Masonry. 

Beloved Student : — Your interesting letter was handed 
to me duly. This is my earliest moment in which to 
answer it. 

"Know Thyself," the title of your gem quoted, is 
indeed a divine command, for the morale of Free Masonry 
is above ethics — it touches the hem of his garment 
who spake divinely. 

It was truly Masonic, tender, grand in you to remember 
me as the widow of a Mason. May you and I and all 
mankind meet in that hour of Soul where are no part- 
ings, no pain. 

Lovingly yours in Christ, 

Mary Baker Eddy. 

Pleasant View, Concord, N. H., 
February 9, 1906. 

Take Notice 

I have not read Gerhardt C. Mars' book, "The Inter- 
pretation of Life," therefore I have not endorsed it, and 
any assertions to the contrary are false. Christian Scien- 
tists are not concerned with philosophy; divine Science 
is all they need, or can have in reahty. 

Mary Baker Eddy. 
Box G, Beookline, Mass., 
June 24, 1908. 



352 MISCELLANY 

Recognition of Blessings 

Reverend Mary Baker Eddy, 
Chestnut Hill, Mass. 

Beloved Leader: — Informally assembled, we, the ushers 
of your church, desire to express our recognition of the 
blessings that have come to us through the peculiar priv- 
ileges we enjoy in this church work. We are prompted 
to acknowledge our debt of gratitude to you for your 
life of spirituality, with its years of tender ministry, yet 
we know that the real gratitude is what is proved in 
better lives. 

It is our earnest prayer that we may so reflect in our 
thoughts and acts the teachings of Christian Science that 
our daily living may be a fitting testimony of the efficacy 
of our Cause in the regeneration of mankind. 

The Ushers of The Mother Church. 

Boston, Mass., October 9, 1908. 

MRS. eddy's reply 

Beloved Ushers of The Mother Church of Christ, Sci- 
entist : — I thank you not only for your tender letter to 
me, but for ushering into our church the hearers and the 

doers of God's Word. ^./r t^ t^ 

Mary Baker Eddy. 

Box G, Brookline, Mass., 

October 12, 1908. 

Mrs. Eddy's Thanks 

Beloved Christian Scientists: — Accept my thanks for 
your successful plans for the first issue of The Christian 
Science Monitor. My desire is that every Christian 



ARTICLE XXIL, SECTION 17 353 

Scientist, and as many others as possible, subscribe for 
and read our daily newspaper. 

Mary Baker Eddy. 
Box G, Brookline, Mass., 
November 16, 1908. 



[Extract from the leading Editorial in Vol. 1, No. 1, of The 
Christian Science Monitor, November 25, 1908] 

Something in a Name 

I have given the name to all the Christian Science 
periodicals. The first was The Christian Science Jour- 
nal, designed to put on record the divine Science of 
Truth; the second I entitled Sentinel, intended to hold 
guard over Truth, Life, and Love; the third, Der Herold 
der Christian Science, to proclaim the universal activity 
and availability of Truth; the next I named Monitor, 
to spread undivided the Science that operates unspent. 
The object of the Monitor is to injure no man, but to 
bless all mankind. 

Mary Baker Eddy. 



Article XXIL, Section 17 

Mrs. Eddy's Room. — Section 17. The room in 
The Mother Church formerly known as "Mother's 
Room," shall hereafter be closed to visitors. 

There is nothing in this room now of any special in- 
terest. "Let the dead bury their dead," and the spiritual 
have all place and power. 

Mary Baker Eddy. 



354 MISCELLANY 

To Whom It May Concern 

In view of complaints from the field, because of alleged 
misrepresentations by persons offering Bibles and other 
books for sale which they claim have been endorsed by 
me, it is due the field to state that I recommend nothing 
but what is published or sold by The Christian Science 
Publishing Society. Christian Scientists are under no 
obligation to buy books for which my endorsement is 

Mary Baker Eddy. 

Box G, Brookline, Mass., 
April 28, 1909. 

Extempore 
January 1, 1910 



O blessings infinite! 

O glad New Year I 
Sweet sign and substance 

Of God's presence here. 

II 

Give us not only angels' songs, 

But Science vast, to which belongs 

The tongue of angels 
And the song of songs. 

Mary Baker Eddy. 

[The above lines were written extemporaneously by 
Mrs. Eddy on New Year's morning. The members of her 



A P.EAN OF PRAISE 355 

household were with her at the time, and it was gratifying 
to them, as it will be to the field, to see in her spiritualized 
thought and mental vigor a symbol of the glad New Year 
on which we have just entered. — Editor Sentinel.] 

Men in our Ranks 

A letter from a student in the field says there is a grave 
need for more men in Christian Science practice. 

I have not infrequently hinted at this. However, if 
the occasion demands it, I will repeat that men are very 
important factors in our field of labor for Christian 
Science. The male element is a strong supporting arm 
to religion as well as to politics, and we need in our ranks 
of divine energy, the strong, the faithful, the untiring 
spiritual armament. 

Mary Baker Eddy. 

Chestnut Hill, Mass., 
February 7, 1910. 

A P^AN OF Praise 

" Behind a frowning providence 
He hides a shining face." 

The Christian Scientists at Mrs. Eddy's home are 
the happiest group on earth. Their faces shine with 
the reflection of light and love; their footsteps are not 
weary; their thoughts are upward; their way is onward, 
and their light shines. The world is better for this 
happy group of Christian Scientists; Mrs. Eddy is hap- 
pier because of them; God is glorified in His reflection 
of peace, love, joy. 



356 MISCELLANY 

When will mankind awake to know their present owner- 
ship of all good, and praise and love the spot where God 
dwells most conspicuously in His reflection of love and 
leadership? When will the world waken to the privilege 
of knowing God, the liberty and glory of His presence, 
— where 

" He plants His footsteps in the sea 
And rides upon the storm." 

Mary Baker Eddy. 
Chestnut Hill, Mass., 
April 20, 1910. 

A Statement by Mrs. Eddy 

Editor Christian Science Sentinel : — In reply to in- 
quiries, will you please state that within the last five 
years I have given no assurance, no encouragement nor 
consent to have my picture issued, other than the ones 
now and heretofore presented in Science and Health. 

Mary Baker Eddy. 
Chestnut Hill, Mass., 
July 18, 1910. 

The Way of Wisdom 

No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, 
and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the 
other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon. — Matthew 6 : 24. 

The infinite is one, and this one is Spirit; Spirit is 
God, and this God is infinite good. 

This simple statement of oneness is the only possible 
correct version of Christian Science. God being infinite, 



A LETTER BY MRS. EDDY 357 

He is the only basis of Science; hence materiaUty is wholly 
apart from Christian Science, and is only a " Suffer it to 
be so now^' until we arrive at the spiritual fulness of God, 
Spirit, even the divine idea of Christian Science, — 
Christ, born of God, the offspring of Spirit, — wherein 
matter has neither part nor portion, because matter is the 
absolute opposite of spiritual means, manifestation, and 
demonstration. The only incentive of a mistaken sense 
is malicious animal magnetism, — the name of all evil, — 
and this must be understood. 

I have crowned The Mother Church building with the 
spiritual modesty of Christian Science, which is its jewel. 
When my dear brethren in New York desire to build 
higher, — to enlarge their phylacteries and demonstrate 
Christian Science to a higher extent, — they must begin 
on a wholly spiritual foundation, than which there is no 
other, and proportionably estimate their success and 
glory of achievement only as they build upon the rock of 
Christ, the spiritual foundation. This will open the way, 
widely and impartially, to their never-ending success, — 
to salvation and eternal Christian Science. 

Spirit is infinite; therefore Spirit is all. "There is no 
matter" is not only the axiom of true Christian Science, 
but it is the only basis upon which this Science can be 
demonstrated. 

A Letter by Mrs. Eddy 

Mrs. Augusta E. Stetson, New York City. 

Beloved Student : — I have just finished reading your 
interesting letter. I thank you for acknowledging me as 
your Leader, and I know that every true follower of 



358 MISCELLANY 

Christian Science abides by the definite rules which de- 
monstrate the true following of their Leader; therefore, 
if you are sincere in your protestations and are doing as 
you say you are, you will be blessed in your obedience. 

The Scriptures say, ''Watch and pray, that ye enter 
not into temptation." You are aware that animal mag- 
netism is the opposite of divine Science, and that this 
opponent is the means whereby the conflict against 
Truth is engendered and developed. Beloved! you need 
to watch and pray that the enemy of good cannot separate 
you from your Leader and best earthly friend. 

You have been duly informed by me that, however 
much I desire to read all that you send to me, I have not 
the time to do so. The Christian Science Publishing 
Society w^ll settle the question whether or not they shall 
publish your poems. It is part of their duties to relieve 
me of so much labor. 

I thank you for the money you send me which was 
given you by your students. I shall devote it to a worthy 
and charitable purpose. 

Mr. Adam Dickey is my secretary, through whom all 
my business is transacted. 

Give my best wishes and love to your dear students 
and church. 

Lovingly your teacher and Leader, 

'Mary Baker Eddy. 

Box G, Brookline, Mass., 
July 12, 1909. 

Take Notice 

I approve the By-laws of The Mother Church, and 
require the Christian Science Board of Directors to main- 



A LETTER FROM MRS. EDDY 359 

tain them and sustain them. These Directors do not 
act contrary to the rules of the Church Manual, neither 
do they trouble me with their difficulties with individ- 
uals in their own church or with the members of branch 
churches. 

My province as a Leader — as the Discoverer and 
Founder of Christian Science — is not to interfere in 
cases of discipline, and I hereby publicly declare that I 
am not personally involved in the affairs of the church in 
any other way than through my written and published 
rules, all of which can be read by the individual who 
desires to inform himself of the facts. 

T5 Tvyr Mary Baker Eddy. 

Brookline, Mass., 

October 12, 1909. 

A Letter from Mrs. Eddy 

In the Sentinel of July 31, 1909, there appeared under 
the heading "None good but one," a number of quota- 
tions from a composite letter, dated July 19, v/hich had 
been written to Mrs. Augusta E. Stetson by twenty-four 
of her students who then occupied offices in the building 
of First Church of Christ, Scientist, of New York, and 
were known as "the practitioners." This letter was for- 
warded to Mrs. Eddy by Mrs. Stetson with the latter's 
unqualified approval. Upon receipt of this letter Mrs. 
Eddy wrote to Mrs. Stetson as follows: — 

My Dear Student : — Awake and arise from this temp- 
tation produced by animal magnetism upon yourself, 
allowing your students to deify you and me. Treat your- 
self for it and get your students to help you rise out of it. 



360 MISCELLANY 

It will be your destruction if you do not do this. Answer 
this letter immediately. 

As ever, lovingly your teacher, 

Mary Baker Eddy. 
Brookline, Mass., 
July 23, 1909. 

A Letter by Mrs. Eddy ^ 

To THE Board of Trustees, First Church of Christ, Scientist, 
New York City. 

Beloved Brethren: — In consideration of the present 
momentous question at issue in First Church of Christ, 
Scientist, New York City, I am constrained to say, if I 
can settle this church difiiculty amicably by a few words, 
as many students think I can, I herewith cheerfully 
subscribe these words of love : — 

My beloved brethren in First Church of Christ, Sci- 
entist, New York City, I advise you with all my soul to 
support the Directors of The Mother Church, and unite 
with those in your church who are supporting The Mother 
Church Directors. Abide in fellowship with and obedi- 
ence to The Mother Church, and in this way God will 
bless and prosper you. This I know, for He has proved 
it to me for forty years in succession. 

Lovingly yours, 

Mary Baker Eddy. 

Brookline, Mass., 
November 13, 1909. 

A Letter by Mrs. Eddy 
My Dear Student: — Your favor of the 10th instant is 
at hand. God is above your teacher, your healer, or any 

1 The text here given is that of the original letter as sent by Mrs. Eddy, and 
published in the Christian Science Sentinel of November 20, 1909. This letter was 
republished in the Sentinel of December 4, 1909, at Mrs. Eddy's request, with 
the words "in Truth" inserted after the word "Abide." 



A TELEGRAM 361 

earthly friend. Follow the directions of God as simplified 
in Christian Science, and though it be through deserts 
He will direct you into the paths of peace. 

I do not presume to give you personal instruction as 
to your relations with other students. All I say is stated 
in Christian Science to be used as a model. Please find 
it there, and do not bring your Leader into a personal 
conflict. 

I have not seen Mrs. Stetson for over a year, and have 
not written to her since August 30, 1909. 

Sincerely yours, 

Mary Baker Eddy. 
Brookline, Mass., 
December 11, 1909. 



A Telegram and Mrs. Eddy's Reply 

[Telegram] 

Mrs. Mary Baker Eddy, 
Chestnut Hill, Mass. 

Beloved Leader : — We rejoice that our church has 
promptly made its demonstration by action at its annual 
meeting in accordance with your desire for a truly demo- 
cratic and liberal government. 

Board of Trustees, 

First Church of Christ, Scientist, 

New York, N. Y., 

Charles Dean, Chairman, 
Arthur O. Probst, Clerk, 
New York, N. Y., 
Jamiary 19, 1910. 



362 MISCELLANY 

MRS. eddy's reply 

Chakles a. Dean, Chairman Board of Trustees, 

First Church of Christ, Scientist, New York City. 

Beloved Brethren: — I rejoice with you in the victory of 
right over wrong, of Truth over error. 

. Mary Baker Eddy. 
Chesit^jut Hill, Mass., 
January 20, 1910. 



A Letter and Mrs. Eddy's Reply 

Mrs. Mary Baker Eddy, 
Chestnut Hill, Mass. 

Revered Leader, Counsellor, and Friend: — The Trustees 
and Readers of all the Christian Science churches and 
societies of Greater New York, for the first time gath- 
ered in one place with one accord, to confer harmoniously 
and unitedly in promoting and enlarging the activities 
of the Cause of Christian Science in this community, as 
their first act send you their loving greetings. 

With hearts filled with gratitude to God, we rejoice in 
your inspired leadership, in your wise counselling. We 
revere and cherish your friendship, and assure you that 
it is our intention to take such action as will unite the 
churches and societies in this field in the bonds of Chris- 
tian love and fellowship, thus demonstrating practical 
Christianity. 

Gratefully yours, 

First Church of Christ, Scientist, 
Second Church of Christ, Scientist, 



CHRISTIAN SCIENTIST ASSOCIATION 363 

Thikd Church of Christ, Scientist, 

Fourth Church of Christ, Scientist, 

Fifth Church of Christ, Scientist, 

Sixth Church of Christ, Scientist, 

First Church of Christ, Scientist, Brooklyn, 

Fourth Church of Christ, Scientist, Brooklyn, 

First Church of Christ, Scientist, Staten Island, 

Christian Science Society, Bronx, 

Christian Science Society, Flushing, L. I., 

By the Committee. 
New York, N. Y., 
February 5, 1910. 



MRS. EDDY S REPLY 

This proof that sanity and Science govern the Christian 
Science churches in Greater New York is soul inspiring. 

Mary Baker Eddy. 



[The Christian Science Journal, July, 1895. Reprinted in Christian 
Science Sentinel, November 13, 1909] 

To THE Members of the Christian Scientist 
Association 

My address before the Christian Scientist Associa- 
tion has been misrepresented and evidently misunder- 
stood by some students. The gist of the whole subject 
was not to malpractise unwittingly. In order to be 
sure that one is not doing this, he must avoid naming, 
in his mental treatment, any other individual but the 
patient whom he is treating, and practise only to heal. 
Any deviation from this direct rule is more or less 



364 MISCELLANY 

dangerous. No mortal is infallible, — hence the Scrip- 
ture, "Judge no man." 

The rule of mental practice in Christian Science is 
strictly to handle no other mentality but the mind of 
your patient, and treat this mind to be Christly. Any 
departure from this golden rule is inadmissible. This 
mental practice includes and inculcates the command- 
ment, "Thou shalt have no other gods before me." 
Animal magnetism, hypnotism, etc., are disarmed by 
the practitioner who excludes from his own conscious- 
ness, and that of his patients, all sense of the realism 
of any other cause or effect save that which cometh 
from God. And he should teach his students to defend 
themselves from all evil, and to heal the sick, by 
recognizing the supremacy and allness of good. This 
epitomizes what heals all manner of sickness and dis- 
ease, moral or physical. ^^^^ g^^^^ ^ddy. 

[ Christian Science Sentinel, February 15, 1908 ] 

Concord, N. H., to Mrs. Eddy, and 

Mrs. Eddy's Reply 

The esteem in wmcH Mrs. Eddy is held in Concord has 

BEEN OFFICIALLY EXPRESSED IN THE FOLLOWING PREAMBLE 
AND RESOLUTIONS, WHICH WERE UNANIMOUSLY ADOPTED BY 

THE Board of Aldermen and Common Council of that 

CITY AND THUS HAVE BECOME A PART OF CoNCORd's RECORDS. 

CONCORD, NEW HAMPSHIRE, TO REV. MARY BAKER G. 
EDDY. 

Whereas, Rev. Mary Baker G. Eddy has decided to 
make her home in Massachusetts, after a residence of 
nineteen years in Concord, and 



CONCORD, N.H., TO MRS. EDDY 365 

Whereas, her residence here has been the source of so 
much good to the city, and 

Whereas, the most kindly and helpful relations have 
ever existed between Mrs. Eddy and Concord and Con- 
cord people. 

Be It Resolved, That the City of Concord, through its 
Board of Aldermen and Common Council, in joint 
convention, convey to Mrs. Eddy, 

1. Its appreciation of her life in its midst, 

2. Its regrets over her departure, and 

3. The hope that though absent she will always 
cherish a loving regard for the city, near which she was 
born, and for its people, among whom she has lived for 
so many years. 

Be It Resolved, That the Mayor and City Clerk be 
authorized and instructed to sign and attest this testi- 
monial in behalf of the City Council. 

Done this tenth day of February, nineteen hundred 
and eight. 

Charles R. Corning, Mayor, 
Attest: Henry E. Chamberlain, City Clerk. 



MRS. EDDY S REPLY 

To THE Honorable Mayor and City Council, 
Concord, N. H. 

Gentlemen: — I have not only the pleasure, but the 
honor of replying to the City Council of Concord, in 
joint convention assembled, and to Alderman Cressy, 
for the kindly resolutions passed by your honorable 
body, and for which I thank you deeply. Lest I should 
acknowledge more than I deserve of praise, I leave their 
courteous opinions to their good judgment. 



366 MISCELLANY 

My early days hold rich recollections of associations 
with your churches and institutions, and memory has a 
distinct model in granite of the good folk in Concord, 
which, like the granite of their State, steadfast and 
enduring, has hinted this quality to other states and 
nations all over the world. 

My home influence, early education, and church 
experience, have unquestionably ripened into the fruits 
of my present religious experience, and for this I prize 
them. May I honor this origin and deserve the con- 
tinued friendship and esteem of the people in my native 

oxate. f>,. f 

bmcerely yours, 

Mary Baker G. Eddy. 

Box G, Brookline, Mass., 

February 13, 1908. 



THE -PLIMPTON -PRESS 
NORWOOD-MASS-U-S-A 



